- Exhibition
Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Multiple dates
Oct 2021 till Jun 2022
Game On - Experience 50 years of videogames
Game On - the largest interactive exhibition about video games.
From October 3, 2021 through June 6, 2022, the exhibition Game On – Explore the First 50 Years of Video Games was on display. Game On is the largest interactive exhibition on game culture. The exhibition has already been visited by millions of people worldwide — young and old alike. For this special edition at Forum Groningen, the exhibition was expanded to include work and games by Dutch studios: from pioneers of the 1980s to international blockbusters such as Horizon Zero Dawn.
1971–2021: 50 Years of Game History
The autumn of 2022 marked 50 years since the release of the first commercial video game. Computer Space was launched in November 1971. After that, the industry developed rapidly. Today, there are more than 3 billion active gamers worldwide. Commercially, the gaming industry has grown into a booming sector that in 2021 was worth more than Hollywood and the sports industry combined. To celebrate these fifty years of game history, Forum Groningen brought this interactive exhibition to the Netherlands.
What was featured in the exhibition?
Game On traced the rich evolution of video games over the past 50 years. The exhibition featured the largest playable collection in the world, with more than 120 arcade machines, handheld game consoles, and everything in between. From Computer Space and the Commodore 64 to Street Fighter V and the PlayStation 5, and from Space Invaders to Halo.
In addition, visitors could admire a collection of unique objects, sketches, and original illustrations, offering insight into the creative process behind game production.
And because the Netherlands is home to several major game studios, the exhibition paid special attention to their work, including Horizon Forbidden West, the highly anticipated sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn by the Amsterdam-based studio Guerrilla Games.
Game On was curated and organised by Barbican International Enterprises in close collaboration with Forum Groningen and the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision.
