It is with much excitement that I announce the launch of the Independent Gaming League (IGL), an organization focused on bringing together industry professionals, gamers, enthusiasts, and anyone else that loves gaming and the community that makes calling yourself a gamer a point of pride.

Formed in partnership with GameHedz, IGL’s mission is to bring people together to learn, compete, and play. We’re dedicated to celebrating and supporting designers, developers, gamers, and anyone else whose life is impacted by video games, and we’ll be producing events of various sizes and scopes that assemble industry professionals and local gaming communities to participate in panels, keynotes, and competitive esports tournaments.

On that note, it’s my pleasure to announce that IGL’s inaugural event — NOLA Gaming Fest — will take place on January 2-3 in New Orleans at the 34k sq. ft. Pontchartrain Center.
NOLAfestannoucment

The event will feature an array of tournaments organized by local competitive gaming groups and gaming centers including: Go4Games, Louisiana Fighting Game Community, Awesome Geeks, and many more. We’re also actively working on programming some great keynotes and panels from indie game makers, and we’ll be inviting a variety of vendors and artists to setup booths throughout the venue to peddle all sorts of wares and gaming-centric art.

If you’d like to get involved with NOLA Gaming Fest by hosting a tournament, volunteering, or sponsoring, shoot us an email at [email protected].

To learn more about the Independent Gaming League, head over to IGL.gg, where you can sign up to be notified the moment tickets go on sale for IGL New Orleans. Be sure to Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, where we’ll keep you update on all things IGL.

Thank you to all the Random Nerds everywhere that keep myself and Derek Thomas, IGL’s Chief Gaming Officer and GameHedz Founder, so motivated to create opportunities for all of us to get together and celebrate something that is far more than just a hobby.