Michael French MBE

CEO

United Kingdom20 yrs 5 mos experience
Most Likely To SwitchHighly Stable

Key Highlights

  • Led London's largest games event with over 100,000 attendees.
  • Generated over £110m business for local game studios.
  • Championed underrepresented founders through accelerator programs.
Stackforce AI infers this person is a leader in the Gaming industry with expertise in event management and business development.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Event ManagementBusiness Development

Other Skills

Team ManagementMarketingBudget ManagementContent CommissioningProgram ManagementNon-fiction WriterCreative WritingEditingCopy EditingWritingDigital PublishingCommissioningSocial MediaOnline PublishingSocial Media Marketing

About

Since its founding in 2015, I've been in charge of Games London. We're dedicated to supporting our capital's ever-expanding games ecosystem - London is now Europe's largest hub for games, host to leaders across mobile, PC, console and more. Our work includes the annual London Games Festival, our country's largest games event with over 100,000 attendees, plus B2B activity including accelerators, trade missions and skills programmes.

Experience

20 yrs 5 mos
Total Experience
7 yrs 9 mos
Average Tenure
10 yrs 8 mos
Current Experience

London games festival

Festival Director

Sep 2015Present · 10 yrs 8 mos · London

  • As Head of Games at Film London I am responsible for Games London, its groundbreaking programme supporting games creators in the capital.
  • I am responsible for the overall programme, its direction and strategy, and delivery. This includes day-to-day such as managing events, overseeing marketing & promotional activity, commissioning content (from artworks to production assets), and managing budgets. But it also includes the bigger thinking - the sort of stuff that leads to us launching the Games London Accelerator, which was the UK's only accelerator for games businesses, and Game Changer a programme for underrepresented founders.
  • I am also the director of London Games Festival, which as a physical event that grew from 35,000 attendees in its first year (2016), to over 100,000 by 2025. It was the first major industry event to switch to digital formats in 2020, and under that criteria has still found ways to grow, generating business for participants. In the last decade LGF has become a valuable way to champion games culture and promote the power of play. I've organised art installations, exhibitions, concerts, demo events - plus an accompanying range of industry activity.
  • Games London has generated over £110m worth of business for studios - which in turn has created nearly 1,000 jobs in the city.
Team ManagementEvent ManagementMarketingBudget ManagementContent CommissioningBusiness Development

Film london

Head of Games London

Sep 2015Present · 10 yrs 8 mos · London, England, United Kingdom

New bay media

Publisher, Games

Oct 2013Sep 2015 · 1 yr 11 mos · Hertford

Intent media

3 roles

Editor-in-Chief - Develop & MCV

Nov 2008Oct 2013 · 4 yrs 11 mos

Executive Editor, CasualGaming.biz

Apr 2008Nov 2008 · 7 mos

Editor, Develop

Dec 2005Nov 2008 · 2 yrs 11 mos

  • I spent seven years as the Editor of Develop, a monthly magazine and website for games developers, and then Editor in Chief of Develop and its sister title MCV, a renowned weekly trade magazine for the whole games industry.

Education

King's College London

Bachelor's degree — English Language and Literature

Jan 1998Jan 2001

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