Manchester Games Workshop Day 2025

Over the weekend, I took a road trip to Manchester to attend the Games Workshop 2025 event ran by Manchester Games Centre. From a personal viewpoint, this was big for me because Dundee to Manchester is my longest road trip yet! The Games Workshop was an interesting event, and it was beneficial to hear the talks that were given, and to reconnect with video game study students and academics who I had previously met earlier this year at the Interactive Games PGR Conference at York St. John University. While the presentations at this university were mainly looked at from a creative point of view, there was one presentation which particularly interested me looking at business strategy and management within game development.

Following attendance of this event, I seized the opportunity to explore parts of the city. As a passionate football fan, I took the opportunity to see both the Etihad Stadium and Old Trafford, collecting a stadium street sign from their club shops to add to my small but growing collection! I also took the opportunity to see Piccadilly Gardens, thriving with foot traffic during lunch hour. There were a host of street food vendors available, and I decided to try a Philly Cheese Steak sub being offered by one of them. I finished my trip to Manchester by seeing the scenery at Heaton Park in the Northern part of the city.

Overall, this was an enjoyable trip where I was able to engage in interesting, insightful conversations with academics within video games, and I was also to appreciate my time in Manchester by exploring just some of the great places to explore in the city.