He's come a long way from Beaufort Road. From humble beginnings studying Game Design at Tameside College, Simran Whitham is now the founder of the UK's largest gaming festival.

It’s been a rollercoaster ride for the Ashton lad, who went on to study at Manchester University before helping to found Tri-Heart Interactive, who released their first game ‘The Otterman Empire’ last year.

Now, as Covid restrictions begin to lift, he’s launching the UK’s largest gaming festival - with a twist.

He’s the founder of Format, a community gaming festival which is set to launch later this year.

It builds on the work he did with Manchester Gamers Unite, which began as a group of friends in Manchester’s Northern Quarter before growing exponentially into a multi-region festival with thousands of attendees.

As well as events in Manchester, Simran has expanded across the country with a Birmingham date already revealed and others still under wraps.

They’ve also partnered with North West-based The Audio Group, which specialises in live events.

An excited Simran said: “Birmingham is only the first, we do have other regions we’re expanding to, but I’m not revealing those as of yet.

“We’re the only one of its kind in the whole world, there is no other nightclub for video games anywhere else.

“We want to put more production value into this, we want to give people Glastonbury level production. I’ve always wanted to do a multi-day festival and now we’re expanding into Birmingham into a 2,500 capacity warehouse and that’s just one of the venues that’s there at the moment.

“The closest I can picture it is, and it’s hard to imagine as no one has done this before, is if Warehouse Project met Insomnia or EGX, that’s the closest I can give you - no one else has ever done this before.”

The idea has come a long way from the first event when 30 like-minded people crowded into Dive Bar in Manchester. 

Simran says he’s proud of all that he and his team have achieved in the past five years and wouldn’t change how it has gone.

“I’m very proud,” he said.

“It’s been a slow progression and I’m really glad, I wouldn’t have had it any other way because I’ve learned a lot on that journey.

“I’ve really appreciated just how far it’s come. We’re up there with some of the biggest players in Europe now and for us to grow that quickly in five years, I’m really happy.”

Obviously, planning the UK’s largest gaming festival in the time of Covid has been no mean feat. 

Simran and the team at Format have spent months planning the grand unveiling, one which will probably have to be conducted with some form of restrictions in place. However, he insists that its not a problem and that all necessary precautions are being taken.

“The one question I’m constantly getting is how are you even pulling this off?” said Simran.

“We’ve been preparing behind the scenes throughout 2020 for our comeback, ever since all this happened. We’ve been preparing the rebrand, getting our YouTube and Twitch star line-up in place, our developers locked in place. We’ve been waiting for the announcement of when indoor hospitality is allowed to commence.

“A lot of people in the hospitality industry have planned their events around restrictions being lifted, but we’ve planned the festival with the maximum restrictions that came into place on May 17 with only the potential to scale up.

“That’s 360 people per day as it stands and with the capacity to increase that. Overall we’ll have 1,060 people at the whole festival, that’s if restrictions continue to be held to the maximum that they were on May 17, but if those lift even further we will increase the ticket amount.”

It’s a bold gamble for the team, but they are used to taking risks.

They’re looking to take on some of the biggest, established names in the game like Gamescom, EGX and Develop Brighton. 

Simran hopes that their innovative approach to the festival, putting gamers and developers in direct contact and providing themed food and drinks, will pay dividends as hospitality reopens.

“We’re the only one in all of Europe. Gamescom, Develop Brighton, EGX, Insomnia, none of them have managed to do it, we’re going to be the first in all of Europe to try and undertake a festival during Covid restrictions which has proven challenging at times, but we’ve actually been surprised, there’s been a huge hunger for events again.

“It was actually quite humbling because within the first 16 hours we sold 50 per cent of the tickets and we’ve now sold 75 per cent just a week later, which for me I’m amazed, considering the situation we’re in, but it also shows that people are now ready to get back out there.

“We’ve had these restrictions for a long time now, it’s time that people can finally start going out and enjoying themselves again and we’re prepared to do whatever it takes to make sure the people can have fun again.”

Planning such a huge event obviously takes a lot of manpower and co-ordination. Luckily, Simran says that the team has had help from the government as they look to admit everyone safely.

“We’re working very closely with the government. We actually have a member of the Conservative Government who serves as an advisor to us who we reach out to quite regularly, he’s been absolutely fantastic in helping us plan this event. 

“He tells us what we can and can’t do, how we can work within these restrictions. The government has been extremely helpful to us in that regard, being a liaison and a mentor in making sure this can go ahead within restrictions.

“There is going to be a lot of eyes on us, but that’s why I want us to be the example. We’re doing this with the maximum amount of security in place, the security of our attendees and everyone involved has been our number one priority since day one. 

“Mask wearing will be mandatory throughout the venue unless those rules change. 

“We’re abiding by all government guidelines, we’ve taken every precaution to ensure that this is going to be safe, it’s not going to be like a traditional gaming convention or festival where people are going to be in large crowds. 

“We’ve made sure it’s done in a fun manner so people can still enjoy themselves. We’ve taken this very seriously and we’re happy to serve as the example to show that this can be pulled off.”

Simran is now a long way from where he began and it’s been quite a rollercoaster journey.

“I started off at Tameside College as a game design student.

“I haven’t done it on my own, I don’t like to take credit for the whole thing. There have been a lot of people who have supported me: my friends, my family and my business partners, they’ve all been exceptionally supportive and I could not have done this without all their help along the way.”

Tickets are still available and you can find them at https://www.fatsoma.com/e/ieww2g0r/format-2021-the-ultimate-gaming-festival. 

Read more from the Tameside Reporter

Click here for more of the latest news

Click here to read the latest edition of the paper online

Click here to find out where you can pick up a copy of the paper