The UK’s major gaming and esports festival, Insomnia, will not be making its return after all, with Insomnia 74 officially cancelled.
The event was due to take place at the Staffordshire County Showgrounds from April 30th to May 3rd 2026. It was set to host esports tournaments, a BYOC LAN area, cosplay competitions, an expo, pub quiz and other activities as usual.
72 Insomnia events have taken place in the UK since 1999, with the most recent one, i72, running at the Birmingham NEC from March 28th to April 1st 2024, with tens of thousands of attendees.
Shortly after the event, the subsidiary company that ran the festival, Supernova Events and Esports Limited, trading as Player1 Events, entered voluntary liquidation.
However, in August 2025, a new consortium emerged to revive Insomnia, including the likes of Modern Wolf, Emblem Events & Exhibitions, High Viz Media Group, and Protec European Events, which announced that the event would be returning at the Staffordshire County Showgrounds this year. Now, this is not happening after all.
Organisers say that ticket holders and exhibitors will receive full refunds, which have been processed and will arrive within seven to 10 working days.
Insomnia has already recommended that those interested in attending a LAN in the UK can attend a future Epic.LAN event instead, with discounted offers available to those who have proof of their Insomnia ticket purchase.
A statement in the official Insomnia Discord from Chris ‘shoe’ Mullins read: “When we announced i74, our goal was to bring back the full Insomnia experience; the LAN, the tournaments, the expo, the pub quiz, the cosplay, and everything that made this festival special. But despite over a year of work, industry-wide reduced investment in live events from major tech and hardware brands meant we couldn’t secure the sponsorship and exhibitor presence needed to deliver Insomnia at the standard you deserve.
“With rising production costs, moving forward would have meant offering a lesser version of the festival, and we were not willing to do that. This was not an easy decision to make, and is one that is absolutely devastating for us all.”
Insomnia Head of Operations, Michael Virks, added: “This is not a decision we have taken lightly. Every member of this team has poured months of work into making i74 a reality, and many of us have personal connections to Insomnia that go back over a decade.
“We know how much this event means to the thousands of people who grew up with it, the competitors who cut their teeth in our tournaments, and the families who have made Insomnia a fixture of their calendars. We are truly sorry to let them down.
“We want to extend our heartfelt thanks to every partner, supplier, volunteer, content creator, and community member who believed in this comeback and gave their time, energy, and support. And to the Insomnia community, we’re just as heartbroken as you are that there won’t be an Insomnia in 2026. We would love to see Insomnia make a return in the future, bringing together gamers from around the world and forging friendships that last a lifetime.”
The UK has other LAN events coming up in 2026, including Enclave and Epic.LAN. There is also DreamHack Birmingham taking place this year, but that doesn’t have a BYOC LAN element to it.