Today, one of the premier indie game events in the UK announced it was being canceled. According to BBC, the WASD expo will not only not take place this year, but the organizers have gone into liquidation.
The WASD expo first took place in 2022, serving as a successor to the EGX Rezzed event, and was held alongside the London Games Festival each April. In the past, the event has been a proving ground for demos, helping indies like Vampire Survivor – which is now massively successful – and even bigger games like Street Fighter 6 get into the hands of gamers before release.
When speaking about the cancellation, Co-founder David Lilley said, “Increasing costs and less demand for stand space means running events is just not viable for us anymore.” The UK gaming expo industry as a whole has been facing difficult times lately, as even Insomnia Gaming Festival, the UK’s biggest gaming expo, was canceled due to layoffs at its organizer, Player1Events.
The United States gaming expo scene has also been hit hard recently, especially around the time of the pandemic. The first event to be discontinued was PAX South, which cited a lack of growth and continuing issues caused by the pandemic back in 2021. Even more shocking was the permanent cancelation of the Electronic Arts Expo (E3) back in 2023.
Before it met its demise, E3 was the premier trade event for the video game industry in the United States, dominating for nearly 29 years since starting back in 1995. Alongside the pandemic, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) also cited a move to digital gaming, partner withdrawals, and changing marketing techniques as to why the event could no longer be sustained.
