Michael French of London Games Festival Receives MBE Honour

Veteran games industry professional Michael French has been bestowed with an MBE as part of the 2026 New Year Honours. This prestigious award acknowledges his dedication to the games industry, as well as his contributions to promoting inclusion and charity work, notably through the Game Changer initiative and the Ensemble exhibition. His efforts with the video games charity GamesAid have also been recognised, including the development and operation of the GamesAid Gala Night, which has raised over £50,000 to date. French's career in the games industry spans over two decades, beginning in 2002 at Intent Media, where he worked as an editorial assistant for MCV before advancing to deputy editor. He later held positions at Future Publishing and returned to Intent, becoming editor of Develop and eventually editor-in-chief of both MCV and Develop in 2008. In 2013, French was promoted to publisher of the two games brands, and in 2015, he left to become the head of Games London, where he successfully launched the London Games Festival in 2016. The festival has supported over 1,000 companies, created nearly 900 jobs, and generated £90 million in business. The 2025 edition of the festival drew 102,000 attendees, including 5,000 industry professionals from 31 countries. Upon receiving the MBE, French expressed his gratitude, stating, "I am very grateful to have been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours list 2026. It's a huge personal honour and also great recognition for an industry I'm so passionate about. We have just celebrated 10 years of Games London and the London Games Festival, plus three years of our Game Changer programme. These milestones can't be reached by the efforts of one person alone, so I would like to also thank the many wonderful colleagues and collaborators I have worked with on the projects that prompted this award." French joins a growing list of games industry professionals who have been recognised in the Honours List, including Alex Boucher, David Banner, Jessica Butcher, Jude Ower, Dr Mick Donegan, and Debbie Beswick, all of whom have received MBEs. Others, such as Dr Jo Twist, Richard Wilson, and Giselle Elizabeth Stewart, have received OBEs, while Sir Ian Livingstone was knighted in 2022, and Jason and Chris Kingsley were awarded CBEs in 2024.