TennoCon is the annual Warframe fan conference that brings together as many members of the community as possible to celebrate the game they all love. However, this event takes place in Canada, which is incredibly far away for a significant portion of the 80 million-strong fan base developer Digital Extremes boasts for the game.
For the longest time, I was on the fence about Warframe. I downloaded it when it first came out, played a little, and decided not to touch it again for years because it wasn’t quite doing it for me. I managed to pick it back up again in 2023 with The Duviri Paradox and fell in love with the incredibly strange universe, its intense lore, and its welcoming community.
But no matter how much I played and how much I read and chatted about the game, I never felt like I could justify attending TennoCon. I really didn’t feel like a “real” fan and, therefore, worthy of showing my face alongside those who’ve spent thousands of hours in the Sol System and beyond. Well, this year, I got to attend TennoCon 2024, and I want to dispel those same thoughts anyone else out there is having.
TennoCon is worth it if you like Warframe, and that’s enough
TennoCon 2024 was themed around Warframe: 1999, this year’s major upcoming expansion, but it was about so much more than that. The day before the conference officially started, it was opened up to the press, content partners, and VIP ticket holders, but this really only meant we got to see things a day early and use a private section of the Vent Kids Club House.
It’s outside of that VIP area that the magic happens, though. The VIP night is a time when you can mix with the incredible development team from Digital Extremes, including Warframe‘s creative director, Rebb Ford, and community director, Megan Everett.
Something I noticed as more and more fans poured in was that there just wasn’t enough room for everyone, so Rebb and Megan went outside to do meet and greets in the fresh air where anybody could come to see them. I don’t know about you, but there’s nothing better for me than meeting the people who work on my favorite games. Everyone, and I mean everyone, from Digital Extremes at one point or another was at TennoCon 2024, and they all had time for pictures and chats with fans. That alone makes this event worth coming to.
The VIP night included a cracking DJ set that featured all sorts of Warframe music, including a rendition of “We All Lift” which everyone sang and made me tear up. It also gives you early access to the Vent Kids Club House, but all ticket holders get into it on the other two days of the conference.
This place was decked out with arcade machines that were in free-play mode, so you could just play game after game at no cost and win tickets. Those tickets were used to redeem exclusive goodie bags filled with amazing merch. Some people I know completely annihilated the economy for this because Warframe players min/max everything. Sorry if you had to pay 1,000 tickets for a bag.
There was also an animatronic Necraloid asking fans incredibly tough quiz questions and a series of gacha machines. Everyone got five tokens for these machines, which dole out a replica Relic from one of a few rarities. Inside these were pins, and the idea was that you should trade pins with others to get a full set of five. Most people just bought more tokens to get more rolls on the machines, which I guess is just how gacha machines work.
But my point is that these were activities designed to get Warframe fans to engage with each other. Even if your only interaction is to sit in the trading booth and wait for that pin you want, you’ve connected with someone who is potentially from the other side of the world.
The entire conference was geared up for this, getting fans to connect. Inside the main building were replicas of various parts of Warframe, such as the subway from Whispers in the Walls, and even Arthur from Warframe: 1999, complete with spinning sword. Every part of the conference was made to make fans stop and admire something, maybe take a picture of them with it, and craft memories.
Of course, TennoCon is nothing without a big devstream show and a tonne of surprises. This year’s was particularly special, and not just because we got news of an anime, a look at SoulFrame, and an Infested boyband.
Digital Extremes carved time out of its devstream, which is usually reserved for discussing its games and the content packs it sells to help keep it afloat, to make someone’s wish come true. James Conlin, a young man with a terminal illness, was revealed as a voice actor in Warframe: 1999 because the developer wanted to make his dream of becoming one and having fans come true. Everyone in the room screamed and applauded, and I’m tearing up all over again writing this as I recall that moment.
Digital Extremes didn’t need to include this in its dev stream. It could have been posted on social media or revealed during a standard devstream. Instead, because of what the Warframe community is and how it comes together for anyone who wants to be a part of it, this news came before even the gameplay demo for what might be the most highly-anticipated expansion for the game to date.
It was this, combined with how everyone reacted, that showed me the true value of the Warframe community and why TennoCon is such a fantastic event to attend. Everybody is, simply put, nice. It’s more than just the Canadian niceness that comes with being in Canada. There were people from around the world at this event, and nobody had a bad time.
It’s a place where you get to meet developers who don’t act like they’re above you, the biggest reveals for your favorite game are shown right to you, alongside all the stuff you didn’t expect, and you’re treated like a part of the family.
I must say, TennoCon is just the start of TennoCon, if you get what I mean. The positivity and friendliness of the community means that you can go and hang out with fellow players in London, Ontario, Canada, long after each day is over.
Some of us ended up going to a little TCG shop to pick up a few books and cards, others to play more arcade games, and then we all met back up at our hotel just to hang out. I think I definitely had a perception that game conferences always ended with going out for drinks and getting lost in a strange city. Everyone at TennoCon just wants to have fun, though, and sometimes that just means sitting down for a coffee in the evening and playing Warframe on your phones.
TennoCon is something special
Twice that I know of during TennoCon 2024, someone proposed. The first was on the VIP night in front of the gorgeous neon wings photo stand, where the wings were changed to pride colors for the moment. The second was on Saturday during the cosplay contest, and I believe it was on stage in front of everyone.
This showed me more than any other moments during the event that this is something special for fans. It means so much to them that they want it and the people at it to be part of the biggest parts of their lives. I know of very few games that have garnered the same sort of respect from fans, even fewer that are free-to-play like Warframe.
To answer that question: Is TennoCon worth it? I believe so, as long as you like Warframe. I didn’t have 100 hours when I went, but I still felt like I was best friends with those who had played for 3,000 hours. Everyone is in this game and at TennoCon for the community. We all want to get together to celebrate this thing that’s brought us so much joy over the years, months, or even just weeks that we’ve played it.
There is, of course, the subject of cost. I can’t speak to each individual’s circumstances, but the actual tickets seem fairly reasonable to me. I believe that the travel and hotel costs had been considered, though, especially given how much free merch was on offer to all fans, not just VIP ticket holders.
I like to think of TennoCon and Warframe like a good road trip. Just like the road trips many fans took to be there. They’re the journey, the experience you have on your way between your starting point and your destination. Every moment is personal, even if you share it with friends. But every moment is also unique and special in its own way. They’ll stick with you because all of them, every step you take, each mission you play, and every developer you meet, are positive experiences that feel genuine, and that’s such a hard thing to come by.
