by Kurosh JozaviWonderCon is not the convention people point to for massive gaming reveals, headline announcements, or exclusive demos that usually dominate the weekend conversation. That has never really been its identity. If you arrive expecting a convention floor shaped by blockbuster spectacle, WonderCon will naturally feel lighter on video games than events built specifically around the medium, but that’s also what makes WonderCon interesting.
What stands out about WonderCon is not the scale of what it unveils, but rather the kind of space it creates. This is a convention that feels built around connections. Fans meet artists, and creatives meet peers. People attend panels not just to be entertained, but to learn something, ask questions, and feel a little closer to the communities they care about. WonderCon works because it gives people room to engage with culture in a way that feels personal. That makes its video game presence feel both fitting and full of possibility.
The gaming-related programming that does appear at WonderCon often reflects the convention at its best. Panels like “Alternative Career Options in Video Games”, “The Game Pitch Review”, “Career Paths Into Game Development”, “Breaking into Voice Acting for Games and Animation”, and even “How Video Game Films Git Gud”, the panel I moderated, all point toward a version of games at WonderCon that is less about spectacle and more about access. These are sessions built around encouragement, insight, and professional curiosity. They are spaces where people interested in games can hear from those working in and around the industry, ask better questions, and imagine themselves as part of it. That is meaningful. In some ways, it is more meaningful than a flashy reveal.
A lot of conventions are very good at making attendees feel like an audience. WonderCon often feels better at making people feel involved. That quality matters, especially for video games, because games are not just products to be advertised. They are creative works made by people, sustained by communities, and understood more deeply when there is room for discussion around how they are built, performed, written, pitched, and adapted. WonderCon already has the atmosphere for that kind of engagement. That is why the convention’s gaming presence feels promising.
At the same time, spending the weekend around this programming makes it hard not to think about how much more attendees could experience if WonderCon leaned further into those strengths. Not by trying to become a gaming convention, and not by chasing the kind of attention-economy that defines larger industry events, but by building on the things it already does well. If WonderCon is already a place where people come to learn, connect, and discover–and games feel like a natural area for that mission to grow.
That could mean more talks from developers, writers, performers, and designers. It could mean more practical workshops for aspiring creatives. It could mean using evening programming slots more intentionally for gaming discussions, portfolio spaces, community mixers, or creator spotlights. It could mean more visible involvement from the many game development voices already based across Southern California. None of that would feel out of character for WonderCon. In fact, it would feel completely in character. That is the heart of the opportunity.
WonderCon does not need video games to become the biggest thing at the convention. It just has an opportunity to make them a more fully realized part of what the weekend offers. Right now, the gaming presence feels like a strong expression of WonderCon’s people-first identity, but also like a glimpse of what else could be possible if the convention gave that space a little more room to grow.
And maybe that is the most compelling thing about it. WonderCon’s video game presence already works when it is centered on community, conversation, and creative access. The question is not whether games belong here. They clearly do. The real question is how much further WonderCon could go if it trusted that its greatest strength is not spectacle, but the kind of experience that makes people feel welcomed into a creative world.
That is where WonderCon stands out. And that is why its future with games feels worth thinking about.