Gamescom becomes world's largest games event

The organisers of this year's Gamescom have branded the event a huge success, saying they're "very happy" with the numbers of visitors it attracted, which totalled over 245,000.

The numbers make the games fair the biggest event of its type in the world - a fact which has secured its future in Cologne next year, when Gamecom is scheduled to return between August 18-22.

"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."

"It fulfilled all our objectives right away," added Olaf Wolters, managing director of sponsor Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware. "Computer and video games are so attractive that our industry is breaking all records despite the economic crisis."

A total of 458 companies from across 31 countries took part in Gamescom 2009. Visitor numbers comprised 17,000 trade attendants and 228,000 consumers.

And satisfaction was high, said the organisers, with surveys indicating 92 per cent of trade visitors thought their trip to Gamescom was successful and 90 per cent of all visitors would return in 2010.

Gamescom sister event, GDC Europe, reported similar success today too, with a visitor total that reached nearly 1500.