Video-game themed music festival announced for 2019

Insomniac, the event planning company behind Electric Daisy Carnival, announced a new music festival for 2019. The music festival will be video-game themed, titled PLAY, with the goal of combining the two entertainment genres, according to Billboard.

Insomniac founder and CEO Pasquale Rotella says that it’s only natural that music and gaming to combine for a festival that offers the best of both. Especially because their respective audiences have a lot in common.

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“These two worlds have so many parallels,” Rotella writes. “They’re colorful and high energy, they attract an audience that’s extremely passionate about community and there’s a level of creative expression that both cosplayers and ravers share that you don’t see anywhere else.”

Not much information is available about PLAY, but Insomniac says the festival will make its debut in 2019. The event focuses around five basic themes: music, gaming, eSports, activations and cosplay.

PLAY will feature activities such as classic arcade games, virtual reality and laser tag. Other features include drone racing and art installations among other things. According to the people from Insomniac, it’s all about blending these two cultures together.

“I think music and gaming have always gone hand in hand,” PLAY co-founder Paul Campbell says. “Early on it was the jingle from games like Mario Bros. that we all fell in love with. Then a lot of sports games curated full soundtracks with current music, and Grand Theft Auto really took it to another level, allowing you to control radio stations featuring all types of genres while driving across the city.”

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Previously, even the Word Alive frontman Telle Smith got involved with the theme song for League Of Legends world championships. In addition, musicians such as Dillon Francis and deadmau5 get on streaming platforms such as Twitch as a way to play video games and interact with fans.

“Now, with the explosion of gaming, Twitch and eSports, you have some of the biggest musicians fully getting involved in gaming,” Campbell writes, “whether that’s Marshmello, Diplo or Dillon Francis getting on Twitch to play fans, or Post Malone, Juice World and the Game going live.”

As of right now, PLAY has no official lineup or venue. Those announcements will come at a later date.