London Hails SIE Expo 2025 a Great Start

The ‘Social Immersive Entertainment Expo’ (SIE), presented a packed show floor and seminar sessions during the three-day event earlier in the month. A new addition to the line-up of events, co-located with the Entertainment Attractions & Gaming Expo and London Casino & Gaming Show – the combined entertainment and amusement landscape was represented under one roof and offered visitors an easy, one-stop-shop to visit these events, as well as providing an invaluable product launchpad for a year that will prove pivotal for the industry.

The SIE Expo trade event had been created to focus on the Immersive Entertainment, Competitive Play and Social Entertainment aspects of the Out-of-Home entertainment market. SIE Expo was able to draw on a plethora of leading developers in these sectors to share their observations with the audience gathered. Following the event these panelists shared their views on how the event was received.

Seminar speaker – Frontgrid, Matt Wells (CEO), took part in the “XR: Attractions” session during the SIE Expo seminar 2025. Giving a great observation on the unique deployment of their ‘ParadropVR’ platform, and how it along with entertainment attractions has been deployed in social entertainment, with a new installation within the Butlins PLAYXPERIENCE venue concept. “SIE 2025 allowed us to inform the show attendees on the unique elements of our immersive platform, and how gamification makes the VR experience unique amongst its peers,” Matt commented. SIE was proud to give Frontgrid a stage to share its valuable observations on market needs.

Also joining the two days of seminars, Ben Fry (Creative Lead), HOLOVIS, took part in the “Social Entertainment – Facility” panel session. The developer of a unique gamified mini-golf platform, HOLOVIS also comes with a wealth of experiences in immersive development. Speaking about their involvement with SIE Expo 2025, Ben said, “It was fantastic to discuss the current trends in social gamification venues, and where we see the industry going – an industry that is only getting started! We discussed how the balance between innovation and classic experiences has led to the development of attractions like our 360Golf – giving families the perfect blend of the familiar and the ground-breaking. This is where I see a lot of the future being for social gaming – how do we reinvent experiences people are familiar with for the next generation?”

Justin Burke (General Manager), SEGA Amusements International (SAI), took part in the “New Amusement” panel session – one of the final sessions of the show that hoped to give a perspective on the future that social entertainment deployment will place on the conventional amusement trade. Justin was able to give an excellent observation on how SAI has invested into supporting deployment of amusement into this market and possible developments for the future. Speaking about SIE Expo 2025, Justin commented, “The range and quality of the speakers that I saw were impressive. Certainly, the seminars hit the mark on being educational and informative.”

Brandon Willey (Chairman), at The LBX Collective, also took part in the “New Amusement” panel session, and proved that the best was kept ‘til last with a thought-provoking discussion on social entertainment landscape impacting the conventional amusement trade. The LBX Collective has established itself as a new media and educational hub for those in the amusement and entertainment industry and offered a valuable perspective of how the old amusement trade thinking is evolving to the opportunity that Competitive Socialising venues can play a part in future revenue. Speaking on his involvement, “Being able to come over to London to speak on what was a transitional subject for the amusement trade opened so many doors, and we look forward to building on the connections made at this unique event.”

Speaking about this first inaugural gathering, event ambassador Kevin Williams of KWP, stated “I was greatly heartened and am extremely grateful for the support and positive response to this first Expo and Seminar dedicated to the emerging immersive and social landscape. I would personally like to thank our speakers, and particularly our audience, for taking the time to attend. The first event is always the hardest, but with the support of the trade association, our exhibitors, and speakers, we were able to knock it out of the park. Especially the seminar sessions were praised, for the first time using “Silent Disco” technology – the audience and speakers wearing headphones to clearly hear the presentations over the activity of the show floor.”

The EAG sales team are now looking forward to next year’s show and have already started conversations to rebook the 2025 exhibitors, as well as welcome new organisations to take their place at the show. “We are thrilled by the overwhelmingly positive response to SIE Expo’s 2025 debut,” said Exhibition Director, Nicola Lazenby. “The team and I look forward to building on this strong start as we continue to strengthen relationships with our valued participants while welcoming new companies eager to join us for an even bigger and better event in 2026.”

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6 February 2025

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