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Multiplay and their Insomnia

We find out more about the UK gaming event organisers ahead of Insomnia53.

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Multiplay has, over the years, turned themselves into a major player in the UK gaming scene. Not only do they have an international presence thanks to thousands of servers running a selection of games, but the company also hosts a regular event called Insomnia.

Insomnia has had its ups and downs over the years, hopping between venues as the event expanded and then shrunk down again in size. More recently the story has been altogether more happy for the company; it's the biggest gaming festival in the country, not long ago they celebrated hosting their 50th event, and the demand for tickets has prompted the recent move to a new, bigger venue.

"The last two years of growth for the festival has been crazy," explained content manager Josh Ling. "Last summer at Insomnia49 we started incorporating special guests into the event; popular content creators from YouTube and livestreaming who have introduced a new generation of gamers to the Insomnia experience.

"The thing that sticks out for me is that we've started to introduce a younger generation to LAN gaming, and gaming in a social environment," he continued. "Groups of friends can now come down for the weekend, enjoy our activities and content in the day, and then play on their PCs or consoles in the LAN areas all night long; there's nothing else quite like it in the UK. We've got more content, more exhibitors, more special guests, more esports, more attendees, and are just generally growing in all areas. Last summer we even featured a night of music headlined by DJ Fresh!"

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We've no idea who DJ Fresh is, but perhaps that's just us showing our age. It's not all doom and gloom for us though, as the good thing about being that little bit older is that we have first-hand memories of the glory days of LAN gaming, and we can therefore be pleased that there's still a demand for it and that there's somebody out there catering for that demand.  

Multiplay and their Insomnia

The company was founded by Craig Fletcher back in 1997, and since those early days they've come along way. Ling explained the company's origins: "We started back in 1999 as a "company in a garage", and we've recently moved into a brand new custom-built office for our continually growing team. Insomnia has been a key part of who we are throughout the years, and even though we've grown beyond the festival in other areas it still remains at the core of who we are as a company."

Ultimately they're synonymous with the UK eSports scene via their Insomnia festivals, but they've also got Minecon in their stable of events, and of course you've probably played on some of their servers if you're a PC gamer. However, they also work with other companies ("we help coordinate gaming areas at EGX and The Gadget Show Live, and recently helped Jagex run Runefest"), they pride themselves in supporting the UK scene in other ways, and are active members of UKIE (the UK's industry trade body).

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Multiplay and their Insomnia

Insomnia53 is set to take place this weekend at the Ricoh Arena (if you want to go you can grab tickets here). As per usual there's a selection of tournaments and events for gamers to check out, from the usual MOBA offerings for League of Legends and Dota 2, to shooters like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. There's even a Halo 2: Anniversary event (perfect if your struggling to get a game on 343i's servers). There's free-to-enter FIFA and Minecraft competitions, and you can also expect to see cosplay, panel talks, tabletop gaming, and there'll be some games on hand for people to play. In true festival style, you can also buy a camping ticket, or even take your own rig along with you.

We asked what was going to be new at this year's event, to which Ling said: "Insomnia53 sees our 2nd annual Insomnia Awards. Completely nominated and voted on by our community, we'll be celebrating the past year in gaming by dishing out some awards. The ceremony will be hosted by Matt Littler and Darren Jeffries of We Got Game, and will feature live music from E4's The Midnight Beast. We're pretty excited about it; we do three Insomnia events a year, so it's a chance for us to let loose, throw on a tux, and have some fun with our community."

Perhaps most interesting thing that came from the interview was the answer we got when we asked who exactly attends their events, and whether they've seen the appeal of the Insomnia broadening over recent years.

"The appeal is definitely broadening because gaming as a medium is broadening," Ling said. "Gaming is mainstream, and that can only be a good thing; we get people of all ages and backgrounds of our events and it's exciting to be able to be able to provide the unique atmosphere that we do. Our gender split at the event is actually very close to even, which surprises a lot of people, and ages of participants vary wildly. We still have the BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer / Console) experience for our core community, but now we get to provide so much more for so many people. We like to think that there's something for everyone at Insomnia, and our audience at recent events definitely reflects that."

It certainly sounds like they're on the right track, and their expanding audience and the increase in demand for tickets would point to that being true. From our perspective, we're just pleased that there's a major player championing the LAN scene, because there's really no feeling finer than crushing your friends in a multiplayer game while they're sitting with you in the same room. After all, it's good to play together.



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