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Gamescom 2017 Sets New Attendance Records

Gamescom 2017 Sets New Attendance Records images: GAMESCOM, SIMYLIFE GAMIFICATION, VIRTUALWARE, KYLE WARD FB 

The 2017 gamescom, Europe's leading trade show for the gaming industry, welcomed record numbers of visitors and exhibitors to the Koelnmesse exhibition centre from August 22 to 26.

The 2017 gamescom was held at the Koelnmesse exhibition centre in Cologne, Germany from August 22 to 26. The event welcomed more than 350,000 visitors from 106 countries, including 30,700 trade visitors, setting a new attendance record and solidifying the show's position as Europe's leading business platform for the gaming industry. This year, the show floor was expanded to an area of 201,000 square meters. 919 companies from 54 countries were present at the event, marking a 5 percent rise from the previous year. 72 percent of the exhibibitors were foreign, which set a new milestone for the show's internationality.

German Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel opened the event for the first time, which highlighted its importance, popularity, unique appeal and success, and reflected the growing recognition of games as an important economic factor and driving force for innovation and cultural exchange. The conference welcomed 114 German and international speakers who shared their insights into the current trends, industry developments, and the future of digital games in the fields of gamification, knowledge, business and law.

The products featured at the 2017 gamescom came from a wide range of industry segments, including PC, mobile, console and online gaming, e-sports and virtual reality. Gaming industry leaders Electronic Arts, Sega, Ubisoft and Konami, health and wellness technology developers Virtualware and SimyLife Gamification, and industry giants Microsoft, Google and Samsung were only some of the names represented at the event.

Microsoft stole the spotlight with the upcoming Xbox One X, which won several awards at the show, including the top honour, and with the Project Scorpio Edition of the powerhouse console. Nintendo gave visitors an opportunity to play some of its upcoming games, including Super Mario Odyssey, which took home the Best of Gamescom award, the Consumer choice prize and several other awards.

The 2017 gamescom hosted a strong conference program that included the gamescom congress, the devcom developer conference and the SPOBIS Gaming & Media event. The gamescom congress drew more trade visitors than ever before and opened the floor to a wide range of topics that touched on the potential of digital games in research, culture, business and education. The devcon game developer event hosted 140 sessions with 200 speakers providing insights into the world of game development. The inaugural e-sports congress SPOBIS Gaming & Media brought together stakeholders from the world of professional sport and representatives from the gaming, media and advertising industries to network and explore the synergies and potential of the rapid developments in the e-sports segment.

The 2017 gamescom offered a rich accompanying program that included the social media stage, the gamescom campus, the cosplay village and other indoor and outdoor events that offered visitors unique meeting points over the course of the five days of the show. The gamescom week ended with the popular gamescom city festival, which offered stages for games, free food and music and welcomed more than 100,000 additional visitors to Cologne.

The gamescom trade show will return to the Koelnmesse from August 21 to 25, 2018.

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