THE BLOG

Play Azur Festival 2026 confirms Nice as a major hub for pop culture and the cultural and creative industries

Play Azur Festival returns on 25 and 26 April 2026 to the Palais des Expositions in Nice for its 9th edition. The event spans 14,000 m², with 4 stages and more than 300 activities. More than 25,000 visitors and 200 exhibitors are expected over the two days.

For the second consecutive year, the festival is incorporating the Festival des Sorciers into its programme. Guests include five French voices associated with the Disney universe, along with content creators and voice actors. The 2026 edition introduces VIP Silver and Gold Packs, a new offering aimed at attendees.

PAF 2026 is part of a CCI ecosystem currently taking shape across the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis. The Studios de la Victorine are undergoing a €37 million modernisation programme. ISART Digital, established in Nice since 2023, will complete its eco-campus in 2026 with a business incubator.

Nice will host EVO France in October 2026, the world’s largest fighting game tournament. The area recorded 551 audiovisual projects and 1,604 shooting days in 2023. Team Nice Côte d’Azur is actively promoting the sector internationally through dedicated missions.

The French Riviera’s pop culture event is gaining momentum

Play Azur Festival, organised by the Play Azur association, has established itself as the leading geek and pop culture event in south-eastern France. The 2026 edition will occupy the full 14,000 m² of the Palais des Expositions in Nice on 25 and 26 April, with a programme spread across 4 stages combining concerts, conferences, esports tournaments and demonstrations.

The worlds represented remain deliberately broad: cinema, video games, manga, comics, science, Asian cultures, K-pop, medieval fantasy, cosplay. The Festival des Sorciers, integrated since the previous edition, returns with its immersive workshops. This year, the festival will welcome five French Disney dubbing voices, including Donald Reignoux and Maëva Meline, as well as content creators such as Fred of the Dead and Sushi Nihiliste.

The official poster, designed for the third consecutive year by French mangaka Enaibi, anchors the event’s visual identity in the world of manga and pop culture. The introduction of VIP Silver and Gold Packs responds to audience demand and represents an additional funding lever for this volunteer-led organisation.

Nice Côte d’Azur, a CCI territory taking shape

Play Azur Festival is part of an ecosystem of cultural and creative industries that is rapidly taking shape across the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis. The area recorded 551 audiovisual projects and 1,604 shooting days in 2023, including nearly 600 days on public land in Nice, representing an 82% increase compared with the previous year.

The Studios de la Victorine, managed since September 2024 by Victorine Studios, an entity resulting from the partnership between CCI Nice Côte d’Azur and the company Color, are the subject of a €37 million investment. This modernisation programme aims to transform the site into a complex integrating sound stages, offices and a training campus, positioned on an international scale.

In video games, the arrival of ISART Digital in 2023 marked a milestone. The school, whose eco-campus including a business incubator and student residence is expected in 2026, trains students for careers in gaming, marketing and digital technologies. In October 2025, Nice hosted EVO France, the world’s largest fighting game tournament. In June 2025, Team Nice Côte d’Azur took part in Game Camp France at the invitation of ISART Digital to present the territory’s location advantages to studios in development.

A strategy carried internationally

Team Nice Côte d’Azur is driving this sector internationally. In November 2024, Axelle Xerri, Head of CCI Projects, and Jean-François Chapperon, Senior Manager Foreign Direct Investments, travelled to Rome for a mission at Cinecittà Studios aimed at identifying collaboration opportunities with the Italian creative ecosystem in cinema, audiovisual production and video games.

By combining production infrastructure, training provision, unifying events and business location support, Nice Côte d’Azur is asserting its position in the cultural and creative industries at European level. Play Azur Festival is one of its public-facing showcases.

For any business location project in the cultural and creative industries, contact Axelle Xerri.