The UK’s Insomnia Gaming Festival, which was due to take place in April, has been called off due to “reduced investment in live events from major tech and hardware brands”. The organiser said that all ticket-holders will receive refunds.
In a press release, the organisers said that while “consumer ticket sales showed a real appetite for Insomnia’s return” with “significant interest from the education sector,” the “reduced investment from major technology and hardware brands in live events meant that the level of sponsorship and exhibitor presence an event of this scale depends on simply wasn’t available.”
Insomnia originated as a LAN event but grew to include a show floor and stage content alongside a series of esports tournaments. The 2026 event, badged i74, was an attempt to resurrect the Insomnia brand after the previous organiser Player1 events went into liquidation in 2024. I74 was being produced by a consortium of firms who had supported previous Insomnia events including indie publisher Modern Wolf along with Emblem Events & Exhibitions, High Viz Media (Group) Ltd, and Protec European Events. It was scheduled to take place from 30 April to 3 May 2026 at the Staffordshire County Showground, moving away from Insomnia’s established home at the Birmingham NEC.
The announcement follows the 2024 cessation of EGX, the UK’s main consumer gaming show, as a standalone event and its folding into MCM London Comic Con (GamesIndustry.biz was formerly owned and operated by MCM and EGX operator ReedPop.) New event To The Moon Expo conspicuously failed at launch last November.
Insomnia Head of Operations, Michael Virks said: “This is not a decision we have taken lightly. Every member of this team has poured months of work into making i74 a reality, and many of us have personal connections to Insomnia that go back over a decade. We know how much this event means to the thousands of people who grew up with it, the competitors who cut their teeth in our tournaments, and the families who have made Insomnia a fixture of their calendars. We are truly sorry to let them down.”
“We always said that if we brought Insomnia back, we would do it properly. Delivering a half-measure – a festival without the exhibitor presence, the spectacle, and the quality that people expect from Insomnia – would have been a disservice to the community that has supported this event for a quarter of a century. We would rather be honest and step back than ask our fans to settle for less.”
The organisers said the event would “rest” with no plans for a return. “The team remains passionate about what Insomnia represents and hopeful that the right conditions – a healthier sponsorship landscape, renewed investment from the technology sector in live events, and the economic stability needed to commit to a festival of this scale – will align in the future.”
