City of New York Announces First-Ever NYC Video Game Festival

Presented by Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment at
Convene Brookfield Place, 225 Liberty St
9:00am - 6:00pm, Saturday, May 31, 2025

In Partnership with National Esports Association and NYC Public Schools, Includes 3rd Annual Mayor’s Cup Minecraft Education Battle of the Boroughs Esports Final

Features Fortnite & Valorant Esports Competitions, Arcade, Cosplay Competition, Indie Game and Robotics Demos, VR Experiences, and More - Free and Open to All New Yorkers!

REGISTER FOR THE FREE EVENT HERE
PHOTO AND VIDEO ASSETS HERE

NEW YORK - April 24, 2025 - The NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment today announced that the City of New York will host its first-ever NYC Video Game Festival — a day-long free celebration of New York City's booming digital games community featuring esports competitions, arcades, demos and more for New Yorkers to enjoy, Saturday, May 31 9:00am - 6:00pm at Convene Brookfield Place. The event will include the 3rd annual Mayor’s Cup Minecraft Education Battle of the Boroughs Esports Final, in partnership with NYC Public Schools and the National Esports Association, and will serve as the kick-off to the NYC Summer of Games calendar, tracking digital gaming events across the City from June - September 2025. Registration for the NYC Video Game Festival (NYCVGF) can be found HERE. To follow the conversation on social media, please tag #NYCVideoGameFestival.

“New York City isn’t just playing the game — we’re creating it. With the first ever NYC Video Game Festival, we're investing in the future of our young people and signaling to the world, once again, that New York City is the global capital of digital gaming,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. “By providing our kids with hands-on experience in this booming industry, we will help set them up for good-paying careers in the decades to come and build a more innovative, successful city.”

The NYCVGF will include:

• Elementary, middle, and high school teams competing live in the Mayor’s Cup Minecraft Education Battle of the Boroughs Esports Final, with the challenge to build a more sustainable, future-ready New York City;
• Fortnite® & Valorant® eSports tournament finals;
• New and unreleased NYC-based developer games, casual and classic arcade games, plus table games with family and friends;
• Career and education expo with representatives from New York State college game development programs, game developers, and game industry professionals;
• Cosplay competition for prizes;
• Robotics & VR showcase, and more.

Leading up to the NYCVGF, Video Game Amateurs (VGA) will host live Fortnite and Valorant qualifying rounds for NY Collegiate esports teams on Friday, April 25 at 7pm and Saturday April 26 at 12 noon. New York's strongest collegiate squads, from Baruch College, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, The City College of New York, Queens College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, SUNY Canton, Farmingdale State College & more will compete for a spot in the finals. The events will be broadcast live on TWITCH across three channels: twitch.tv/vgamateurs | twitch.tv/ECAC_Esports | twitch.tv/cunybcesports.

Also leading up to the NYCVGF, NYC Public Schools will host a semi-final competition in each borough to determine which 3 teams (one K-5 grade team, one 6-8 grade team, and one 9-12 grade team) will represent their borough in the Mayor’s Cup Final on May 31.

“The NYC Video Game Festival is more than just fun and games – it is about the future of New York City’s economy, education, and creative industries,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Workforce, Adolfo Carrión Jr. “This event celebrates New York City’s growing leadership in digital gaming, while opening doors for students and young professionals to explore career paths in one of the world’s fastest-growing industries. We’re proud to champion this exciting new tradition.”

“We are so proud to present the City of NY’s first ever Video Game Festival, complete with K-12 and collegiate esports tournaments, career expo, arcades and game demos, to further this administration’s commitment to NYC becoming a global digital games hub,” said Commissioner of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, Pat Swinney Kaufman. “The festival officially kicks off the NYC Summer of Games schedule of programming and, all together, highlights our digital games industry infrastructure, local talent and potential to support future jobs, esports competitions and developers.”

"New York City is a hub for cutting-edge technology and innovation, and our students deserve the opportunity to explore these fields,” said Schools Chancellor Aviles-Ramos. “I’m excited to be announcing the first ever NYC Video Game Festival, and I'm grateful to our partner agencies across the city for making this kind of event possible for our youngest New Yorkers.”

The introduction of the NYCVGF comes on the heels of new investments recently announced to help cement NYC’s role as a global hub for the digital games industry. The investments total over $1 million and include support for the ‘Made in NY’ Animation Training Program, the Game Design Future Lab within NYU Tandon Future Labs and CUNY’s first-ever Bachelor's Degree in Digital Game Design at City College of New York (CCNY). Additional investments, research and partnership with private businesses all ladder up to Mayor Adams commitment to creating jobs in the Digital Games industry, as first outlined in the "Rebuild, Renew, Reinvent: A Blueprint for New York City's Economic Recovery" plan and in the just announced initiative “New York City's Artificial Intelligence Advantage: Driving Economic Growth and Technological Transformation.”