Last week’s Gamescom event in Cologne, Germany, was pretty darn successful. How successful, you ask? Successful enough to be the biggest gaming event of all time.
I think it’s fair to write off Gamescom 2009 as a success. Not only did we see a good number of announcements and unveils – looking at you, PS3 Slim and Fable 3 – but as it turns out, a lot of people came to check out the show. More people than have ever gone to a games industry event before, in fact.
Here are some numbers: Gamescom ’09 featured 458 companies from a combined 31 different countries. There were 17,000 trade attendants from within the industry, and a whopping 228,000 consumers who came to check out the latest and shiniest in videogames. Together, that gives us a staggering attendance of 245,000 people. Holy crap.
“The Gamescom premiere ran splendidly,” said Oliver P. Kuhrt, managing director of Koelnmesse GmbH. “We are very happy with the enthusiastic response of both exhibitors and visitors. This has established Gamescom as a leading trade fair straight away.” Yeah, you read that right – 245,000 people in the show’s first year.
Unsurprisingly, the show will be returning to Cologne next year, scheduled to take place on August 18-22. Apparently, not all Germans hate videogames after all. Who knew?
(GI.biz)
