Payne steps up as director of London Games Festival

ELSPA has appointed Kirsty Payne as the director of this year's London Games Festival, taking place in October.

The festival brings together a series of events aimed at raising the profile of the games business and culture in the UK, and this year includes the Eurogamer Expo, The London Games Conference, The Golden Joystick Awards and the MCM Expo.

"We’re delighted to have Kirsty on board with her industry knowledge and experience," offered Keith Ramsdale, EA UK boss and chairman of LGF. "She was a natural choice to head up LGF, we’re looking to achieve a bigger and better London Games Festival than ever for 2010 with a varied schedule of events for the media, consumers, trade and politicians alike."

Payne has varied industry experience in the UK, including stints at Codemasters, Mindscape and Activision, as well as co-founding Rocket Media, with clients including Sony Computer Entertainment, Konami, GAME and Mastertronic.

"London Games Festival is an opportunity for the games industry as a whole to come together and make interactive entertainment a real focus in mainstream media, communicate with consumers and to promote the positive aspects of our industry in a political environment and to a widespread audience," said Payne.

"I’m really looking forward to speaking to everyone involved in interactive entertainment and working together to create a memorable and successful London Games Festival 2010."