GC 2006: A Massive Success

The Leipzig Fair, also know as Games Convention or GC, officially ended on Sunday and it was a total success. Compared to GC 2005, GC 2006 broke the record with 183,000 visitors and more than 2,600 journalists from 38 countries!

Project Director Angela Schierholz summed up the exhibition’s success as follows: “The larger displays put together by exhibitors for older visitors and the female target group as well as the expansion of GC family and the new section GC Art have resulted in more visitors from different generations. GC has hence met one of its key aims by showing that interactive entertainment and education are relevant for society as a whole.”

Not only the visitors, but also the exhibitors were very satisfied. When asked how well their aims had been achieved at the show, 89% of exhibitors replied either ‘wellÂ’ or even ‘very wellÂ’ (up from 86% in 2005). All in all, 91% of the total of 368 exhibitors from 25 countries announced before GC closed that they would be returning to take part in GC 2007. This means that everybody could anticipate a larger and more extensive fair on the next year due to the massive success of the games convention. The exhibitors were also able to increase their games’ appeal to the hard-to-reach customer demography, which includes women and girls – seventeen per cent of visitors were female (up by 4%).

With the span of four years, GCDC was able to establish itself as the industryÂ’s most important European platform. This year, GC added art as a new section for the first time. Teaming up with Pong.Mythos, Machinima and Digital Beauties/Character Design, it also featured workshops where visitors could take hands-on approach.

GCDC – EuropeÂ’s leading developer conference – will be planning with exhibitors to “build up the programme further to give people more gaming fun.”

The Leipzig Fair, also know as Games Convention or GC, officially ended on Sunday and it was a total success. Compared to GC 2005, GC 2006 broke the record with 183,000 visitors and more than 2,600 journalists from 38 countries!

Project Director Angela Schierholz summed up the exhibition’s success as follows: “The larger displays put together by exhibitors for older visitors and the female target group as well as the expansion of GC family and the new section GC Art have resulted in more visitors from different generations. GC has hence met one of its key aims by showing that interactive entertainment and education are relevant for society as a whole.”

Not only the visitors, but also the exhibitors were very satisfied. When asked how well their aims had been achieved at the show, 89% of exhibitors replied either ‘wellÂ’ or even ‘very wellÂ’ (up from 86% in 2005). All in all, 91% of the total of 368 exhibitors from 25 countries announced before GC closed that they would be returning to take part in GC 2007. This means that everybody could anticipate a larger and more extensive fair on the next year due to the massive success of the games convention. The exhibitors were also able to increase their games’ appeal to the hard-to-reach customer demography, which includes women and girls – seventeen per cent of visitors were female (up by 4%).

With the span of four years, GCDC was able to establish itself as the industryÂ’s most important European platform. This year, GC added art as a new section for the first time. Teaming up with Pong.Mythos, Machinima and Digital Beauties/Character Design, it also featured workshops where visitors could take hands-on approach.

GCDC – EuropeÂ’s leading developer conference – will be planning with exhibitors to “build up the programme further to give people more gaming fun.”