Leipzig's Games Convention challenged by Cologne's GamesCOM

by Kyle Orland { Feb 25th 2008 at 1:45PM }

In the wake of last year's severely scaled back E3, Leipzig's Games Convention emerged as a strong European alternative for game demos and announcements. That reputation might not lat long, though, as GamesIndustry.biz reports that a major German trade group is leaving Leipzig behind for a new show, Cologne's GamesCOM, in September 2009.

While the move has been rumored for a while, German industry association Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware announced only this morning that the new show would effectively replace the Leipzig event. Games Convention owner Messe Leipzig, for their part, released a statement expressing regret and saying that it would be a "harsh blow" for the region. No word yet on whether Games Convention would still try to put on a competing show, but consensus seems to be that effort would be difficult without BIU support.

Tags: BIU, cologne, games convention, games-convention, gamesCOM, GamesConvention, GC, german, germany, leipzig

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Marty @ Feb 25th 2008 1:50PM

In the wake of the "format war," I'm looking forward to the next few years of the "expo war."

meist3r @ Feb 25th 2008 2:02PM

War ... huh yeah ... what is it good for? ... Absolutely money!

These BIU idiots are a bunch of ignorant weasels. Leipzig was a brilliant spot to boost the economy in Eastern Germany but apparently (as we can all clearly see now) the Business side of my brilliant country is the West and doesn't give a flying fart about other regions. The name is a piece of unimaginary crap too ... why rename something that is aptly called "Games Convention" GamesCOM. No one knows what COM should stand for and to be honest the whole thing was done so they could keep the Anglophone GC-tag whilst not paying license fees to the original makers of the fair. Quite frankly I didn't care for GC anyhow but these shenanigans drive me up the wall. Leipzig has no potential? Well not if you leave before you could establish something. Freaking morons, anyone still need proof that the Games industry (like every other f-ing industry) is run by greedy r-tards ... there you go.

As if we didn't have enough crap comig out of cologne, Carnival, Stefan Raab and now a shitty Expo clone. And no, I'm neither from Leipzig nor from Cologne.