Plot Thickens For Gaming Segment

Leipzig Messe's decision to launch a North American version of its Games Convention has further roiled the waters of the interactive games exhibition segment.

For one, it raises questions about the impact a new show could have on the Entertainment Software Assn.'s E³ Media & Business Summit and IDG World Expo's Entertainment for All Expo events, both held in Los Angeles and managed by IDG.

And, back in Germany, there are questions about GC's ability to compete with Koelnmesse's new GamesCom show. Recently, the main German game publishing association, Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware (BIU), switched its show support from the GC to GamesCom, which will launch next year, with obvious implications for the GC event.

Leipzig Messe officials said they aren't worried. In fact, rather than throw in the towel, they're expanding their GC franchise.

According to Heike Fischer, director of the Leipzig Messe press department, GC will continue to be the leading European games show. It's been securely and successfully established in Leipzig for seven years, she added, and is known worldwide.

“In 2008, 234 of our 547 exhibiting companies came from abroad,” Fischer said. “That's why it's regrettable that the German association BIU wants to go its own way and try to promote another event in 2009, which has to build from the bottom. The BIU unites 12 German branches of international companies, which have supported the development of our Games Convention from the beginning. Of course, we continue to talk with each of them as single exhibitors, but we really regret that the German association risks the unity of the German industry.”

Mette Petersen, Koelnmesse's president, said, “The BIU association decided a while ago to move ... from Leipzig to Cologne and work with Koelnmesse starting in 2009.” Beyond that, Petersen added, it was still too early to make any comments on the overall games show situation.

GamesCom will be held for the first time Sept. 9-13 at Koelnmesse and annually thereafter. The next GC will be held Aug. 19-23 in Leipzig and will again feature the GC Developers Conference Aug. 17-19.

Leipzig Messe named Silvana Kuerschner strategy director of the newly created Games Convention Global Project Section, responsible for expanding GC internationally. Kuerschner will report directly to Leipzig Messe CEO Wolfgang Marzin, and GC Global will add new sales and marketing staff.

Kuerschner previously was responsible for Leipzig Messe's marketing management and alliances, including the acquisition of guest events, development of national and international partnerships and new product development. She succeeded Frank Sliwka, who left to become CEO of Global Games Media.

Fischer said Leipzig Messe will continue to refine the international concept of the GC, supported by international companies and the large majority of the German industry. At the same time, she added, it is successfully expanding the GC into an international product family, based on such established tradeshows as GC in Leipzig. Games Convention Asia for the Asia-Pacific region was held first in 2007 in Singapore, and the new games show currently is being developed for the North American market. Although Leipzig Messe has yet to identify the site or choose dates, recent reports have said it would be held in Vancouver, British Columbia.

As for E³, Fischer said it's a highly specialized event for business and media, and it's based on a different concept than GC.

Fischer said Leipzig Messe is going to adapt the GC for the North American market in close collaboration with the American industry, but that ongoing negotiations on the show precluded her from answering more detailed questions. “But you may be sure that there will be a suitable event for the American market in the interests of the local industry,” she added.

A spokeswoman for IDG World Expo referred all questions to Dan Hewitt, senior director of communications for the ESA, who did not respond to requests from Tradeshow Week for comment. The E³ event was downsized in recent years.

The GC could be adjusted to suit different markets, Marzin said. The concept is flexible, and the network of the global games industry permits Leipzig Messe to be active at different locations. After the Southeast Asian GC launch last year, Leipzig Messe is now focused on the North American market, he added.

The 2008 GC attracted a record 203,000 trade visitors and game fans. In 2008, the number of exhibitors rose from 503 to 547, the area occupied from 112,500 to 115,000 square meters (1.21 million to 1.23 million square feet), and 234 companies from other countries exhibited, compared with 189 last year.

Fischer added that, despite BIU's decision, GC in Leipzig still has strong industry support. In a survey conducted by the Leipzig Institut fur Marktforschung, the vast majority of the games industry and of GC visitors voted to keep the GC at its traditional venue in Leipzig. To the question “Do you think there should be a GC in Leipzig in 2009?” only 10 percent of exhibitors answered “no,” as did only 13 percent of the 14,600 GC attendees.