John & Brenda Romero return to PLAY Expo Blackpool in 2023!

John & Brenda enjoyed last years PLAY Blackpool so much they asked if they could come back, and we'd be mad to say no to that!

John Romero is an award-winning programmer, game designer and level designer whose work spans over 130 games, 108 of which have been published commercially.

Romero is considered to be the "father of first person shooters" having led the design and contributed to the programming and audio design of the iconic and genre-defining games DOOM, Quake, Heretic and Hexen.

Romero is also was also one of the earliest supporters of eSports and a professional-level DOOM and Quake player. To date, Romero has co-founded eight successful game companies including the likes of id Software, Gazillion Entertainment and most recently Romero Games in Galway, Ireland.

He is considered to be among the world’s top game designers, and his products have won well over 100 awards. Romero most recently won the Legend Award at 2017’s Develop: Brighton. One of the earliest indie developers, Romero began working in the game space in 1979 on mainframes before moving to the Apple II in 1981. He is a completely self-taught programmer, designer and artist, having drawn his inspirations from early Apple II programmers.

If you're as excited as we are to get the chance to chat to John at PLAY Blackpool, make sure to swing by the Talks and Q&A's he'll be a part of over the weekend, battle it out in a DOOM Deathmatch or two, and some other surprises yet to be announced!

Brenda Romero is a BAFTA award-winning game director and co-founder & Studio Director of Romero Games.

As a game director, she has worked on over 50 games and contributed to many seminal titles, including the Wizardry and Jagged Alliance series and titles in the Ghost Recon, Dungeons & Dragons and Def Jam franchises. Away from the machine, her analog series of six games, The Mechanic is the Message, has drawn national and international acclaim, particularly Train and Siochán Leat, a game about her family’s history, which is presently housed in the National Museum of Play.

In addition to a BAFTA and a Fulbright, Romero is the recipient of multiple lifetime achievement awards, a Grace Hopper Award, a GDC Ambassador Award, and many of the games she has contributed to have won numerous awards.

If you're excited as we are to get a chance to chat to Brenda at PLAY Blackpool, make sure to attend the Talks and Q&A's she'll be taking part in over the weekend!