NYC Summer of Games

NYC Summer of Games 2025

NYC Summer of Games 2025 celebrates New York City's booming digital games community featuring marquee events, expos, tournaments, exhibits, workshops, and programs across all five boroughs from June – September 2025.

NYC Video Game Festival – May 31, 9am – 6pm
Convene Brookfield Place, 225 Liberty St.
Highlight Battle of the Boroughs posts: Elementary Schools winner | Middle Schools winners | High Schools winners #NYCVideoGameFestival

• The first-ever NYC Video Game Festival is a one-of-a-kind celebration of gaming that will bring together students, teachers, families, gamers, developers, tech enthusiasts, and industry professionals for a full day of interactive experiences. The festival will feature the 3rd year of the Mayor’s Cup Battle of the Boroughs Minecraft Challenge Final, a grade K-12 scholastic esports competition that prompts borough champion teams to build a more sustainable, future-ready New York City. The day will also include a collegiate esports tournament featuring CUNY, SUNY, and NYC private college teams playing Fortnite® and Valorant®.  The digital games expo is also expanding this year to include indie game demos, a free play area with console and PC games, classic arcade, robotics showcase, cosplay showdown, and more.

Games in New York – May 29-31
“Games in NY” promotion on STEAM highlights leading role of NYU Game Center

• The Game Center at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts celebrates the games and designers of New York in “Games in NY,” a curated collection of more than 100 games to be featured May 29-31 on Steam, the gaming platform. In collaboration with community partners Gumbo, Playcrafting, Coexist, Rochester Institute of Technology, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the 48-hour promotion highlights games that are designed, published, or set in New York. The collection ranges from blockbusters to indie favorites, with new and forgotten games mixed in. It begins at 1 p.m. on May 29.

Gaymer Pride – May 31, 12pm-7pm
https://www.gaymerpride.org/ | @OfficialNYCG

• NYC Gaymers is back at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, starting the Pride season off with their annual Gaymer Pride event!  This free event is an in-person social gathering, with console & tabletop games, live music, and performances by local drag performers and artists, including Megami of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 16.

How Cloud & AI are Redefining Tech IRL #NYTechWeek – June 3, 5pm
https://partiful.com/e/bXRIU7z0ddVSpjX06uBZ

• Join us for a future-forward conversation exploring how Cloud infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence are transforming the way we build, play, and connect in real life. This powerhouse panel features: Zoya Lehrer – Founder & CEO, Orgo, ex FinTech; André Swanston – Chairperson & CEO, PHȲND; Moderator: Ahmed Abdullah – Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Decoy Games.

Tools & Platforms for Developers: A Conversation #NYTechWeek – June 5, 6pm-10pm

• Hosted by Playcrafting , NYC/EDC and TURBO Join us for a Tech Week NYC candid fireside chat diving into the ever-evolving ecosystem of developer tools, publishing platforms, what devs want and don't want, and the tech investors are betting on. This conversation brings together indie devs, platform reps, and investors for a look at: 
  • Emerging dev tools & tech shaping workflows
  • The growing expectations around platform support
  • How devs really feel about future tech
  • What funding partners are seeking in tomorrow’s games
  • Why some platforms fail to win dev trust (and how to fix it)

Tribeca Games Gallery – June 11-15
Pier 57, Open to the Public | https://tribecafilm.com/festival/games    

• This segment of the Tribeca Festival celebrates interactive and immersive entertainment, featuring free playable demos of this year’s game selections.

Waffle Games 8.0 – June 14-15
https://www.egdcollective.org/wafflegames2025

• Waffle Games is the Esports and Game Design Collective (EGD) annual convention and conference run by students, for everyone. In 2025, Waffle Games is back in NYC as a hybrid event across two days! In the past, our event has brought in over 600 students, recent grads, and industry professionals to play, design, compete, and learn. This year, we're so excited to welcome you back at City College & virtually!

PALEYGX GAMING & VR – June 14, 28
The Paley Center for Media, 25 West 52nd St, NYC
https://www.paleycenter.org/events/paleygx-family

• June 14, 1:45pm - Tournament Featuring NBA 2K25
  This event is free (and PaleyGX Studio Entry fee is waived). General Public must pay museum admission fee; Paley Members always enjoy free admission to The Paley Museum. Check-in: 1:45 pm  Games Start: 2:30 pmJust in time for the NBA Finals! Join us to see if you’ve got game on the court. We’re setting up a bracket style 1 v 1 elimination tournament to find the best NBA 2K25 players out there. The skill level is Hall of Fame and you can play on Xbox or PS5. Win and you keep playing until we crown a champion. To secure your spot, please purchase general admission, then add on tickets for this event during the second step of checkout. RSVPing online will not secure you a spot until you check in with the tournament organizer between 1:45 pm and 2:25 pm.Members enter your Member ID (including dashes) or code in the access key field to RSVP.
• June 28, 1:45pm - Tournament Featuring Fortnite
  This event is free (and PaleyGX Studio Entry fee is waived). General Public must pay museum admission fee; Paley Members always enjoy free admission to The Paley Museum. Check-In: 1:45 pm Games Start: 2:30 pmIt is Battle Royale time at the PaleyGX Tournament featuring Fortnite! We will host multiple Solos/Zero Build games of Fortnite in PaleyGX and each player will have a chance to play on their preferred platform (Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, PC, or PlayStation 5). A champion will be crowned based on their placement and number of eliminations. You must be 13 years or older to participate. Prepare to Battle! To secure your spot, please purchase general admission, then add on tickets for this event during the second step of checkout.RSVPing online will not secure you a spot until you check in with the tournament organizer between 1:45 pm and 2:25 pm. Members enter your Member ID (including dashes) or code in the access key field to RSVP.

Power Up Festival – June 14
Bronx Brewery, 856 E 136th St Bronx, NY 10454
https://powerupfestival.eventbrite.com/

• Power Up Festival is New York City’s premier gaming and music event, celebrating the intersection of digital culture, creativity, and community. Hosted by Video Game Amateurs (VGA), the festival features live performances, esports tournaments, indie game showcases, and interactive outdoor activities, drawing thousands of attendees from across the five boroughs. This year’s event highlights NYC’s growing role as a hub for gaming and music as tools for connection, innovation, and local impact.

Games for Change Festival – June 26-27
Parsons School of Design
https://festival.gamesforchange.org/

• The 2025 Games for Change Festival theme is "Designing for Tomorrow." We'll bring together diverse voices from industry veterans to next- generation innovators to explore how games and XR can break down barriers between generations, perspectives, and sectors. The Festival will showcase how collaborative design and play can transform entertainment into measurable impact across critical areas like education, health, sustainability, and more.

NYC Indie Dev Night – June 26, July 24, August 28, September 25, 6:30 PM – 10:30 PM
BrookLAN, 339 Troutman St, Brooklyn, NY 11237, USA
https://www.eventbrite.com/o/playcrafting-999490801

• Creating a home for indie games and their developers.  Every 4th Thursday, Playcrafting hosts NYC Indie Dev Night where you can playtest the indie games coming to life in NYC.

Urban Arts Game Academy – July 7-August 18
39 W. 19th Street, 5th Floor, NY, NY 
www.urbanarts.org/gameacademy

• A fun, rigorous, and FREE college-preparatory game design program and computer science program, where students create their own video game using the industry tool, Unity3D! Open to rising 10th, 11th, and 12th graders by application only.

PaleyGX Minecraft Coding Workshop – July 11, August 13
The Paley Museum, 25 West 52 Street, NYC
https://www.paleycenter.org/events/paleygx-minecraft-coding-workshop

• This free, one-hour workshop* will teach students ages 8+ to explore aquatic worlds and uncover hidden treasure of Minecraft’s Voyage Aquatic program. Use your creativity and problem-solving skills to explore and build underwater worlds using the power of coding! Students can then enjoy PaleyGX after coding class for an additional hour, for free!

PaleyGX Tournament Featuring MLB The Show 25 – July 12
The Paley Museum, 25 West 52 Street, NYC
https://www.paleycenter.org/events/paleygx-mlb-the-show

• Come get ready for the MLB All Star game by putting on your cleats and competing face to face in PaleyGX’s MLB The Show 25 tournament. We are holding a bracket style elimination round challenge where players will compete against each other on PlayStation 5 consoles. Win and you advance, lose and you go home. It’s a best of 3 series challenge before the true All Stars take the field in Atlanta.

NYWIFT Summer Soirée: Leveling Up: Girls in Gaming and VR Development – July 15
Penthouse 45, 432 W 45th St, New York, NY 10036
https://www.nywift.org/event/gaming-vr-2025/

• The conversation will present new ideas and give insight to what the present and future hold for creators at the intersection of art and technology, followed by a networking reception. Hear about storytelling across mediums, adapting to a fast-paced industry in a constantly shifting cultural landscape, building community online, collaborating with brands and what is next for women bringing their stories to new audiences.  

Play NYC 2025 – August 21-24
Javits Center, 429 11th Ave, New York, NY
https://play-nyc.com/

• Play NYC — New York’s premier gaming convention — is in its 10th year! The 10th anniversary expo will be bigger and brighter, with new additions to the showfloor as well as educational and insightful programming and panels for those interested in learning how to make games or something about gaming history. We're here to connect, collaborate, and create in our return to the Javits Center this August through a partnership with Anime NYC. Play NYC unites creators and fans from the New York area and beyond in this three-day celebration of games featuring:

  • PLAYABLE GAMES from studios large to small
  • CREATORS from the NYC games industry live on-site
  • OPPORTUNITIES to play the best games coming out of NYC right now and meet their creators

GAME DEVS OF COLOR EXPO – September 16-19
https://www.gamedevsofcolorexpo.com/

• This event is an online conference with live chats, digital booths, grant award ceremonies, networking opportunities, panel discussions, interviews, and a Steam sale. The purpose of the expo is to encourage and unite game developers from various backgrounds.  NYC will host the largest watch party this year as well at location to be announced later this summer.

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