Leipzig Games Convention dropped
The biggest games show in the world has been dropped from the 2009 calendar, Leipzig Messe announced today.
Leipzig Games Convention, the annual European fair for interactive entertainment, infotainment and hardware which has taken place since 2002, was originally scheduled to take place between 20th and 23rd August this year, but “in view of the new situation in terms of competition on the German trade fair market” has been dropped in favour of a new show, Games Convention Online.
Games Convention Online is the first independent platform in Europe for what is currently “the most dynamic market in the gaming industry”: browser, client and mobile games, and is due to be supported by market leaders in the online industry such as Bigpoint and Gameforge. Yes, you read that right. The biggest PC and console game trade fair in the world has been dropped in favour of a show based around browser, client and mobile games.
In announcing the new gaming fair, the Leipzig CEO Wolfgang Marzin emphasised: “This is a completely new and fully independent product for a market that is adjusting to new business models, setting off along new sales routes and appealing to new target groups. Browser, client and mobile games are on course to becoming a big success story and in that way, the Games Convention Online is like the GC – Games Convention when it first began.”
But you’re probably wondering what exactly the “online” part means. Wolfgang explains:
“We will be combining the real fair, that is, the offline event, with an online event. This means that millions of gamers are linked in on the internet and can take part in the Games Convention Online in Leipzig live. The Games Convention Online will host tens of thousands of visitors in Leipzig, and several million in the whole world.”
For this to happen, the new event will be accessible on the internet throughout its entire duration, which is said to be free of charge.
But with the future of E3 in doubt, will there be any kind of large-scale exhibition left for us gamers?
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I’m amazed you havn’t heard that the gaming industry dicided to move to a different fair in Cologne, Germany. That decision fell earlier in 2008, well before the Games Convention in that year. The new fair is called ‘gamescom’ and is held for the first time from 19th to 23d of August this year at the Kölnmesse convention center. It’s kind of sad, but without industry support there was simply no need for another games exhibition around. But you guys should hurry to get your accreditation in time.
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