GC: Games Convention opens to record figures

Games Convention 2007 begins this morning with organisers revealing a record 200,000 visitors are expected to attend the event.

The amount of exhibitors at the Leipzig show has grown by 34 per cent, making use of 112,500 square meters of floorspace.

"This year I am convinced that we will have up to 200,000 visitors at the GC," says Josef Rahmen, managing director of the Leipziger Messe.

"The GC is continuing to build upon its position as the leading European fair. This year we are expecting over 9,000 trade visitors and some 2,800 journalists from over 35 countries," he added.

As well as the expected growth in attendance, the exhibition has seen a rise in company's making use of the GC Business Center — a meeting point for the games industry to conduct business ahead of the busy Christmas period.

"The GC Business Center offers ideal conditions for completing orders for the forthcoming Christmas business," offered Peggy Schönbeck, GC project director.

"This is underlined by the extremely high demand. International exhibitors in particular are increasingly being attracted to Leipzig," she said.

Also forming part of the Games Convention is the GC Gala, the GC Freestyle — a open air festival with camping facilities, a dedicated family gaming area, digital art exhibitions and other events celebrating videogame culture.

This year's GC Developers Conference ends today, with the event seeing 870 attendees from 35 countries. Speakers included Factor 5's Julian Eggebrecht, Epic Games' Michael Capps and ArenaNet's Jeff Strain.