Like many other events this year, such as CES and GDC, South by Southwest (SXSW) returns as a hybrid event in what looks to be in full force. Kicking off on-site in Austin, TX on Friday, March 11 and concludes on Sunday, March 20, it’s a massive celebration of brands, tech, music, movies and so on. One way to measure that is the number of parties, lounges and activations, and as of now there looks like there’s a lot of them.
To provide attendees (with a skew toward attendees with a gaming-related interest) with information they may be able to use, we’re assembling a list of resources including where to find the best events that may be of interest during SXSW 2022.
Official SXSW Resources:
Game industry track: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2022/events/track/Game%20Industry
Held from Saturday, March 12 to Tuesday, March 15, this is the list of sessions SXSW has organized. Expect topics around the metaverse, NFTs, augmented reality and casual reality, international games markets, Hollywood and game development, and more.
SXSW Gaming Expo: https://www.sxsw.com/exhibitions/gaming-expo/
The SXSW Gaming Expo, hosted on Sunday, March 13 to Monday, March 15, the gaming expo can be expected to include exhibits from game developers, publishers, arcade machines, tabletop and other related experiences one might expect from a gaming showcase.
Official Events List: https://schedule.sxsw.com/2022/events/type/lounge,activation,party?days=all
This is the official SXSW list of lounges, parties, and activations, which, will not all inclusive, is pretty comprehensive on its own and would more than fill anyone’s schedule. This search covers all days and includes every event they’ve posted. But the search can be limited to specific days — such as the days when gaming content is the focus — for topics or specific venues.
Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/d/tx–austin/sxsw-party/
Eventbrite has a very impressive list of tickets, from free events to paid seminars and summits at SXSW. At the time of posting, there’s 104 pages of events, which include gaming and much more. Caveats to keep in mind: Some of these events may be sold out; some may be duplicates of each other on Eventbrite or from other lists you find; many will require a SXSW badge and some may not; and some may be unrelated events caught up in the search dragnet.
For a narrower search of “only” 39 pages of events, this SXSW event search query focuses on games.
Guide to Attending SXSW 2022:
Austin-based news station, KVUE-ABC, has posted a guide that attendees to SXSW may be interested in, which includes COVID guidelines, information about badge pick-up and getting around Austin during the bustling SXSW stretch.
Morgan Hazelwood’s blog: https://morganhazelwood.com/2019/05/23/morgans-complete-guide-for-attending-a-convention/
While this post isn’t recent enough to include COVID-related norms or tailored to the Austin or SXSW experience, it includes a wealth of good advice about how to plan for, and attend, a larger convention.
Last but not least, for more official information about SXSW 2022, visit the official website.
