DVRS Games Festival 2025

(from the websites): SODA and POC in Play invite you to attend the first international diverse games festival in person in Manchester Metropolitan’s School of Digital Arts.

In SODA’s state of the art new building we will host two days of talks and a networking event showcasing diverse speakers and topics across games development as well as animation and film. This builds on POC in Play’s popular series of networking events with a premium roster of global talent to learn and connect with.

Attendees at DVRS will gain insights from industry figures, including speakers such as Shifally Rattan, Harvey Newman and Prof. Stuart Sumida from celebrated games, such as Call of Duty, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, Battlefield, Horizon: Zero Dawn and many more to be announced over the coming week

The games festival is open to industry professionals and students covering topics ranging from games design, art, narrative, coding, music and more.

 “DVRS Games 2025 is the first games festival in Manchester to bring international speakers to share industry knowledge and experience with the community. By pairing with POC in Play we are also focussed on raising the visibility and representation of ethnically diverse game developers to inspire the next generation of developers” said festival director, Dr. Satish Shewhorak.

10 – 11 April 2025

Location: School of Digital Arts

Event Type: In-person and Virtual

Price: £50 student/academic, £100 industry EARLY BIRD RATE (deadline 7 Feb).
£60 student/academic, £120 industry STANDARD RATE.

Speakers:

Shifally Rattan
Harvey Newman
Helen Kaur
Professor Stuart Sumida
Freddie Babord
Dr Darshana Jayemanne
Kenny Young
Meghna Jayanth
Zi Peters