Second Annual NYC Video Game Festival Starts May 9

If you’ve never heard of the NYC Video Game Festival, that’s okay — it’s new. New York City is one of the largest centralized game development hubs in the world, with over 380 game companies that call it home, and over 7,900 indie game developers on top of that. With such a high volume of game makers, a convention devoted to exclusively local games makes sense. It’s an event where those who live in and around NYC can see the extent of their homegrown talent in one location.

Attendees will be able to do everything they could do in a typical video game convention: try out games for free, sample new technology, and gawk at product demonstrations…not that there won’t be some atypical events. A company called Vivid Imagination will be holding tournaments where drones play soccer. Other highlights will include an F1 racing simulator, electronic darts (how they’re electronic hasn’t been revealed,) and VR simulations.

Plus esports! The finals of the Minecraft Education Battle of the Boroughs Esports Competition will be held here, gathering the best of elementary, middle, and high school borough teams to build Minecraft versions of a more sustainable, future-ready New York City. Prompt examples will include how to improve transportation to the Queens Willets Point soccer stadium and how to reimagine Governors Island as a hub for sustainability.

“The second annual NYC Video Game Festival will welcome more than 1000 New Yorkers for a full day of action, and showcase the talented workforce, indie developers and city agencies that make NYC a global hub for the digital games industry,” said Commissioner of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, Rafael Espinal. “This festival has something for everyone – families can enjoy a day that combines learning and fun; students can meet with colleges and employers as they explore next steps in their digital career paths; and members of the digital games community can gather to develop new ideas for how to support this economic engine.”

The second annual NYC Video Game Festival will be held at Convene Brookfield Place on Saturday, May 9, 2026. Register for tickets at nycvideogamefestival.com .