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Something significant is happening in Colombo this May.Level Up 2026 is Sri Lanka's most ambitious gathering of game developers, esports competitors, creators, and tech-forward professionals — and it is arriving on May 23 and 24, 2026 at Dialog Auditorium, Union Place, Colombo.
Two full days. One shared mission: to build, celebrate, and legitimize the game development and creator ecosystem in Sri Lanka.
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DAY 01 — May 23 | Night Serpent Esports Tournament (NSET)
Day 1 opens with the Night Serpent Esports Tournament — a high-energy competitive gaming event featuring titles across COD Mobile, Mobile Legends, Marvel Rivals, Valorant, and Mortal Kombat. This is not a casual gaming night. NSET is a structured, refereed tournament designed to surface the best competitive players Sri Lanka has to offer, with real stakes and a charged atmosphere to match.
Beyond the brackets, Day 1 also hosts an Game Photography Contest and a Cosplay Contest — bringing the wider fan and creator community into the fold and giving the event a cultural dimension that goes beyond the screen.
Whether you're competing, spectating, or simply showing up for the energy, Day 1 sets the tone for what Level Up 2026 is about: community, competition, and culture.
DAY 02 — May 24 | Lanka Game Developers Conference (LKGDC)
Day 2 is the centrepiece.
The Lanka Game Developers Conference is Sri Lanka's first GDC-style event — a full-day professional conference dedicated to game development, interactive media, and the creative industries that surround them. Five major keynotes. A large-scale panel discussion. Studio stalls from leading local and regional game studios. And the EXE Extended showcase, where the top five teams from our open game jam present their work to a live audience.
LKGDC is built for developers, designers, producers, students, investors, and anyone who believes that South Asia's game development scene is at an inflection point. The conversations happening on this stage will shape the direction of the industry in this region for years to come.
If you work in games, want to work in games, or invest in the people who build them — Day 2 is not optional.
=== EXE Extended — The Open Game Jam ===
Running alongside the conference is EXE Extended, Levelstair's open game jam. Teams from across Sri Lanka are building and submitting original games to the official itch.io jam page through April. The Top 5 most engaged teams earn a showcase slot at LKGDC. The Top 10 receive official Levelstair digital certificates. Submissions are evaluated on both the quality of the build and community engagement — because making a great game and knowing how to put it in front of people are both skills worth rewarding.
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Who is behind this?
Level Up 2026 is organized by Levelstair Community — a Colombo-based organization building the central hub for game development, XR, animation, esports, and creator culture in Sri Lanka, with a community of 600+ members and a platform reach of over 2,000 across Discord, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, and more.
The event is co-organized with the Rotaract Club of UCSC and the CSSL GenZ Chapter of UCSC — two of the most active youth professional organizations in the university technology space in Sri Lanka.
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Why does this matter?
Sri Lanka has game developers, esports players, animators, and creators who are doing genuinely impressive work with limited infrastructure, limited visibility, and limited industry support. Level Up 2026 exists to change that equation. It is the kind of event that only works if the right people show up — professionals, students, studios, sponsors, press, and community members who understand that building an industry requires showing up for it.
We are not waiting for Sri Lanka's game industry to be taken seriously by others. We are building the spaces where it takes itself seriously first.
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📅 May 23–24, 2026
📍 Dialog Auditorium, 15th Floor, Dialog Axiata PLC Head Office, Union Place, Colombo
🎟 Register at event.levelstair.com
📩 Inquiries: [email protected]
Organized by Levelstair Community
In collaboration with Rotaract Club of UCSC & CSSL GenZ Chapter of UCSC
Title Partner: Dialog Gaming
Platinum Partner: Liveroom Technologies
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Event Venue
Dialog Axiata Auditorium, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Tickets
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
