LKGDC 2026: Inside Sri Lanka's First Lanka Game Developers Conference

LKGDC, the Lanka Game Developers Conference, is Sri Lanka’s first dedicated conference for game developers, organized by LEVELSTAIR. The 2026 edition ran May 24 at the Dialog Auditorium in Colombo, as the second day of the Level Up 2026 event. It featured five keynotes, a fireside chat, and a 90-minute panel on funding, publishing, and market access.

LKGDC 2026 at a Glance

Date

May 24, 2026

Venue

Dialog Auditorium, 15th Floor, Dialog Axiata PLC HQ, Union Place, Colombo

Organizers

LEVELSTAIR Community, Rotaract Club of UCSC, CSSL GenZ Chapter of UCSC

Global Community Outreach Partner

IGDA Foundation

Program

5 keynotes, 1 fireside chat, 1 panel discussion, studio exhibition stalls

Official Game Jam

EXE Extended 2026 (10 submissions, top 5 on the Spotlight Stage)

Part Of

Level Up 2026 (Day 2, following Night Serpent Esports)

Sri Lanka’s First GDC-Style Conference

LKGDC brings together studio founders, developers, and industry professionals in a single-track conference format: keynotes, panel discussions, and a studio exhibition floor. LEVELSTAIR describes it as “Sri Lanka’s premier GDC.” 2026 marked its flagship edition, held alongside the Night Serpent Esports Tournament under the shared banner of Level Up 2026.

The IGDA Foundation came on board as the conference’s Global Community Outreach Partner for 2026.

By the Numbers

Exhibition stall spaces for game studios sold out ahead of the event, reflecting demand from Sri Lanka’s growing studio scene to exhibit alongside the conference programme.

Who Spoke at LKGDC 2026?

Keynotes

Five 40-minute keynotes covered studio sustainability, mobile monetisation, talent pipelines, and extended reality (XR):

1. Building Sustainable Studios: Move from Outsourcing to Owning IP
   Haritha Naurunna
   Founder, Rivertune Games
   Keynote · 40 min
2. Mobile-first Games & Monetisation for South Asia
   N. John Perera
   Head of Game Development, Foxtale Studio
   Keynote · 40 min
3. Talent Pipeline: Animation, VFX & Game Education That Actually Works
   Ravindu Cooray
   Head of Studio, RAM Studios
   Keynote · 40 min
4. Beyond Reality: AI-Native XR and the Future of Human-Digital Interaction
   Naushikha Jayawickrama
   Chief Technical Officer, Zenith Xperience
   Keynote · 40 min
5. Scaling XR from Prototype to Global Market: Monetization and Business Models
   Achala Weerasooriya
   Chief Executive Officer, Liveroom Technologies
   Keynote · 40 min

Fireside Chat: Building a Game Audience Before Launch

A 30-minute fireside chat put a studio founder and a content creator on the same stage: Achila Mohottige, Founder & Lead Designer of Ironblood Games, and Manitha (ManiYa) Abeysiriwardana, livestreamer and content creator. Billed as ManiYa × Ironblood Games, the session was moderated by Black Mirage Studio and closed with an audience Q&A.

Panel: Scaling Sri Lankan Games: Funding, Publishing & Market Access

Billed as “The Ultimate Panel Discussion,” this 90-minute session was “a comprehensive teardown on turning local prototypes into global sensations.” It brought multi-studio perspectives from Ironblood Games, Foxtale Studio, and Rivertune Games, and was moderated by Black Mirage Studio.

How Did EXE Extended Feed Into LKGDC?

Alongside LKGDC 2026, LEVELSTAIR ran EXE Extended 2026, the conference’s official companion game jam. It ran on itch.io from April 1 to 30, 2026, and received 10 submissions.

What’s Next

LEVELSTAIR has already announced LKGDC 2027, at TRACE Expert City, Colombo, with the exact date still to be confirmed. Updates are posted on lkgdc.levelstair.com.

Thank You

LKGDC 2026 came together because of the organizing team, and the speakers, partners, and attendees who joined them. Thank you to everyone who helped make Sri Lanka’s first Lanka Game Developers Conference possible.