GX Australia 2017 dates announced

Get ready to press Start and unleash those combos; GX Australia is set to return in 2017!

GX Australia is an all-inclusive event celebrating all that is geeky and game-related in a supportive environment.  Celebrating equal representation and diversity in popular culture, gaming, and in fandom, the inaugural GX Australia event was held this year as part of the 2016 Sydney Mardi Gras program (27-28 February 2016).  This was also the first time the namesake Gaymer X convention was held outside of the United States.

Apart from being an historical event for Australia, the event was considered an overall success with a line-up of guests that included David Gader (Lead Writer for BioWare’s Dragon Age series and Creative Director at Beamdog!) and Manveer Heir (Senior Designer, BioWare).  Events of this kind are not without hiccups, and with the overall excitement and enthusiasm for the event, there were reports of poor signage around the venue,  small crowds despite approximately 800 tickets being sold, high tickets prices and lack of day ticket sales at the gate were cited as reasons that prevented many from attending.

Next year’s convention has moved to a much larger venue, Sydney Showgrounds, and will be held later; from April 29-30 2017.  Organisers cite the reason for the changes as being the increased expense around the time of Sydney Mardi Gras making it difficult for people to travel (and for the event itself), and the dates would be too closely aligned with the Game Developers’ Conference in San Francisco (February 27-March 3 2017) making it difficult to source guests.

There are high expectations for GX Australia 2017  to build upon the successes this year. It is hoped teething issues have been sorted out, and that a larger venue brings a bigger crowd to guarantee the ongoing success of Australia’s first (and only) queer gaming and geek convention.  A Kickstarter campaign will start again later this month that will also see the first official announcements of the GX Australia 2017 program. Be sure to keep an eye on the GX Australia website for more details. Checkpoint will certainly be making an appearance again next year, to catch all of the events first hand.