Did you attend Bucharest Gaming Week 2025 last weekend?
Regardless, I’d make plans not to miss it next year. Here’s why…
I’ll start my plea by admitting that I went to BGW without high expectations. After gamescom 2025 and East European Comic Con, it was hard for me to believe that a local gaming event could raise the organisational bar, but Bucharest Gaming Week 2025, held at Romexpo between 11 and 12 October, managed exactly that: to prove that when passion, professionalism, and community pull in the same direction, the result is a festival that could stand proudly alongside any European convention.
The first thing that surprised me was the impeccable organisation. No endless queues, friendly and attentive staff, airy spaces, and clearly delimited zones for competitions and stands. The official programme announced opening at 10:00 and closing at 20:00 on both days. Together with my wife, Andreea, in her role as my personal photographer during the event, we made our presence felt at the event on both days from its very first hours.
The space was designed for variety, including large demo zones, competitive arenas, retro corners, tabletop areas, and zones dedicated to content creators or specialised gaming products. For the public, this translated into easy access to game demos, gaming events with a LAN party vibe, and a multitude of activities that didn't require you to queue for over an hour just to touch a controller. The organisers launched the Bucharest Gaming Week app, which facilitated a QR-based treasure hunt and prizes, turning wandering from one stand to another into a little side game.
Real people, real stories
For me, BGW was a festival of encounters. Ioan Dăescu, one of the organisers, was open and happy to explain at length the philosophy behind the event. In our short conversation, I felt that the organisers intentionally crafted a friendly experience for all types of players, from families to professional competitors.
This strategy paid off, in my opinion. Most visitors were relaxed, interested in demonstrations, and eager to interact with the exhibitors behind the stands. Here’s what Ioan stated in the interview:
“Now we are in a new location, at Romexpo. For the past few years, we’ve been at the Palace of the Parliament. We changed the location precisely because the event grows year after year, bringing in more and more people, and we felt the need to choose a larger venue to accommodate them, and it turns out we felt right. As highlights of this edition, I would mention the cosplay contest, which, compared to last year when it brought 25 competitors to the event, has grown to 35, a 40% increase in this regard.
Little by little, we’ve also grown this area, which wasn't necessarily inherent to the event, and cosplay fans are already becoming more and more interested in Bucharest Gaming Week, and in future years we expect an even larger number.
Another highlight is the game Mexican Ninja created by the Romanian studio Amber. The game's trailers have garnered around 400,000 views, and people are enthusiastic about the concept and the atmosphere presented.”
From the Romanian developers’ zone, the discussion with Ștefan Mihai Popescu, founder of Street Art Studios (SAS), whom I met on Saturday inside Romexpo, was one of the most interesting. We talked about the life of a developer in Romania, what it means to build local titles with international ambitions, and what resources are systematically lacking.
The founder of SAS emphasised, however, that passion and the local community often compensate for shortcomings, and events like BGW offer essential visibility to indie studios. Speaking about the recommendations he would give to young developers just starting out, Ștefan stressed:
“The best advice? Even if you don't know how to do something, and I've said this in interviews, at jobs, or to anyone, go and do it. It doesn't matter how it turns out, the important thing is to start, and something will surely come out of it. Even if you don't know what you want the game to be about or if you don't have experience in gameplay, programming, or level design, open Unreal Engine and explore every function, every option.
You can start with a free template, invest a few quid yourself, and just start doing something. There are no excuses like 'it's hard'. It was difficult for me too, but I kept going. Even if I lost my project after three months of work and had to start from scratch, I kept going.
The best advice is to throw yourself into your projects and dreams and see them through. Even if people say you won't succeed, don't pay attention; even if you don't know, you can learn.”
Big stands, big titles
Among all the stands visited, that of the Romanian studio, Amber, seemed to me one of the most visible, and the discussion with Cristian Dina, its Marketing Director, showed me the evolution of a Romanian studio that grew from a modest office into a company with an international presence.
BGW used elements from the branding of Amber's upcoming title, Mexican Ninja, to promote this year's event, from tickets and banners to wristbands and T-shirts, which transformed the experience into something coherent and memorable. Through their presence, large studios confirmed that BGW aims to be an important platform for local launches and teasers. Speaking about the importance of the story behind the game, I learned the following from Cristian:
“The game's story is very important. You need to have a narrative thread that you convey to the audience in an interesting way. There are many beautiful stories, but if they are not told well, they become boring or unattractive. That could have been the case here, but, fortunately, it wasn't.
The premise of the game is very exciting and intriguing. From the title Mexican Ninja, you expect a bizarre society, and that's exactly what attracted a lot of comments and hype, which helped us enormously in popularising the game. The story and narrative in Mexican Ninja are very important, and we convey them through every post, through every piece of content put online, on all communication channels. We do not deviate at all from the brand's tone of voice.
It is also very important for players to interact with developers, so wishlist Mexican Ninja on Steam, play the demo, leave feedback, comments, or reviews. We carefully read every comment and respond to them, because the community's wishes matter enormously. We are, at heart, players and we understand very well what the gamers around us want.”
In terms of publishers and media, the stands of CDMedia, a brand with which GRIND magazine collaborates, brought big titles within public reach. I discussed with Bogdan Rucăreanu, Marketing Manager, about the selection of games available for testing at BGW.
Among the titles on display were heavyweights such as Borderlands, Silent Hill f, and Assassin’s Creed Shadows, while the Nintendo area offered access to the Japanese company's new console, Switch 2, attracting constant streams of curious visitors. Here's what Bogdan told me:
“At the CD Media stand, we premiered Just Dance 2026, before its launch. We have the latest titles released by the publishers we distribute: Borderlands from Take-Two, Just Dance 2026, Assassin’s Creed Shadows from Ubisoft, Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid from Konami, as well as NBA 2K26 also from Take-Two, and Sonic Racing Crossworld from Sega.
At Nintendo, we presented the latest titles for Nintendo Switch 2 and the console itself. Among the available games are Mario Kart World, Donkey Kong Bonanza, and Super Mario Party Jamboree, all for Switch 2. Our goal was to offer as much fun as possible to visitors through games and the experience with the new console at the Nintendo stand at Bucharest Gaming Week.”
Other stands at the event included brands such as TP-Link, Lenovo, Asus ROG, qwertykey, McDonald’s, Mountain Dew, Old Spice, LEGO, and even the Romanian Army. Each of these came with its own perspectives on the connection between its brand and the concept of gaming.
The ingredients of a ten-out-of-ten show
On stage, the programme was dynamic and included tournaments, contests, interviews, and panels that followed almost non-stop. Lorin Druță, CEO of qwertykey, hosted many moments on the main stage, moderating contests and interviews, which brought consistency and rhythm to the show. For esports fans, the sections dedicated to Counter-Strike 2, Fortnite, EA FC 26 and many others were well-supplied with prize pools and audience. This combination of show and tournaments kept the hall alive throughout the event.
As much as I managed to follow what happened on the main stage, I admit that the choice of presenter was extremely well calculated. Druță managed to consistently maintain a pleasant, jovial, but above all, competitive atmosphere when necessary.
Fair raffles and… me, with a prize won
One area where the organisers excelled was the management of raffles and giveaways. The systematisation of draws, clear display of rules, and transparent communication with participants made “luck” seem fair and organised. I took part in one of the raffles organised at the Mountain Dew stand and got lucky. I won a Marvo keyboard.
My experience, free of suspicion, isn't just personal bravado, because the entire process was public and well-documented on site. Many participants went home with small or large prizes, and the BGW treasure hunt, promoted as an event with significant total prize money, contributed to creating a festive atmosphere.
What do the market and the figures say?
The organisers put tickets on sale for Saturday and Sunday and offered two-day passes. Presale prices were clear, and sales through well-known platforms facilitated public access. In addition, local communications and official pages promoted numerous internal activities: Cosplay Parade, WiFi Wars, retro spaces, and tabletop zones. The presence of technology brands, large companies, and influencers confirms commercial interest in the local gaming market.
Nothing is perfect. Some large stands created congestion around them, and towards the middle of the day, there were moments when circulation slowed slightly. However, these drawbacks seemed natural for the size and ambitions of the event. Overall, the fluid organisation, varied offerings, and the effort to transform visitors into active participants made BGW 2025 a success.
Official data regarding the exact number of visitors was not published at the time of writing, but estimates from organisers and media partners indicated tens of thousands of visitors over the weekend.
It's about community, commerce, and a craving for play
Bucharest Gaming Week 2025 proved to be more than an exhibition of products. It was a meeting between community and industry, between retro nostalgia and modern releases, between Romanian developers talking about their journey and publishers bringing big titles.
For me, as an invited participant, the most important thing wasn't that I left with a keyboard in my backpack, but rather the feeling that the local industry is growing healthily, that there's room for creativity and business, and that Romexpo can host a competitive, well-produced, and, yes, even friendly event. I'm already looking forward to BGW 2026 as a promising continuation.
Last but not least, I think it's fitting to thank the GRIND magazine team for their support, as well as my personal photographer, Andreea. At the same time, I want to thank, on behalf of the GRIND team, everyone who contributed to this article with a word, advice, or a message, including appreciation for our work done purely out of passion for gaming. A final thank you goes to Theofanis Gavriilidis, representative of Critical Hit PR, who made the meeting with Cristian Dina from Amber studio possible. Thank you, Theofanis!
The Romans almost got the anecdote right when they said “Per aspera ad astra”, only instead of astra it was GRIND, for sure! And of course, we cannot conclude this plea without suggesting that you don't miss the opportunity to get your tickets for the next edition: Bucharest Gaming Week 2026. Do you need any more confirmation that it's worth being there?