Another Game Convention bites the dust... this time it's Europe's largest

[Digital-Nitrate]

In the wake of the demise of many game developers... so follows one of the largest game conventions...


Sizable Leipzig Game Convention Canned for 2009
Posted on 1/29/09 by Frank Caron of ars technica

In spite of a strong show in 2008, Leipziger Messe has announced that the 2009 Games Convention has been canceled. It is unclear if the company plans to can plans for a North American version of the show as well.

While E3 struggles to stay relevant and E for All struggles to gain relevance, the huge Leipzig Game Convention seemed to be one of the only main industry-run shows that has enjoyed stability. The sizable European convention has been growing steadily over the years and has had great support from the industry—so much so that its organizers were planning to bring the show to North America. However, a new announcement has brought that stability into question: Leipziger Messe has revealed that the 2009 Games Convention has been canceled.

This announcement follows a banner year for the convention in 2008, which saw some 203,000 visitors and press explore more than 350 exhibits from 25 countries—though at least one industry giant was missing. The decision has come "in view of the new situation in terms of competition on the German trade fair market*," the organizing group Leipziger Messe said in a prepared statement.

Leipziger Messe CEO Wolfgang Marzin did note, however, that the event could well be resurrected in the future. "If the industry is again in search of a platform for console and PC games and hardware with the know-how of the GC* - ‬Games Convention,* ‬we will immediately be available," he said.

With its biggest show now off the table, the group plans to focus its efforts on a new, trimmed-down version of the convention called "Games Convention Online," which focuses squarely on browser, client, and mobile games.

The main unanswered question in all this is whether or not Leipziger Messe still plans to come to North America with the GC; the group has not yet made any official announcements one way or another regarding its decision to head overseas. When the news was first announcement that GC was coming here, many foresaw the imminent demise of E3, which has suffered in recent years after closing its doors to the public. That bit of competition could have been just what was needed to reignite the waning consumer trade shows run by the ESA and the gaming industry.

In the meantime, though, I guess we'll just all have to meet at PAX.

I suspect one of the problems with the Leipzig Game Convention is that it was always competing with GDC Europe and Gamescom, although frankly Leipzig always drew the largest crowds with some of the biggest announcements and game demos.

As an update to this news however, Frank Sliwka, the former head of Leipziger Messe's Games Convention Developers Conference has now taken control of GDC Europe and worked out a deal with Gamescom such that this year, both conventions will run back to back between the 17th and 23rd of August in the exact same location in Cologne, Germany.