NRW@gamescom: World’s Biggest Games Fair in Cologne
The world’s biggest fair of interactive games and entertainment, gamescom, will be taking place in the Messehallen Cologne for the fourth time from 15th to 19th August. The organisers, Koelnmesse and the Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware e.V. (BIU), again expect some 250,000 visitors and more than 500 exhibitors from almost 40 countries this year.
Numerous conferences and events before and during the fair make gamescom into the industry’s key European event for both specialist visitors and the general public, with the gamescom congress, gamescom festival and gamescom campus as well as European Games Award, Game Developers Conference and the Youtube-VideoDay 2012.
The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Mediencluster NRW, the AV-Gründerzentrum and the Games Development Initiative Ruhr (GDI) invite all specialist visitors to seek out the stand “Medienland NRW” in der business area (Hall 4.2, Stand H50) during the three days of the fair (15.-17.08.), not only as a contact point for information and networking, but also as a venue for their own business meetings.
On Wednesday, in the presence of the Minister for Media in NRW, Dr. Angelica Schwall-Düren, Sang-Pyo Hong, KOCCA – Korea Creative Contents Agency, Petra Wassner, NRW.Invest, and Petra Müller, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW will sign a “Memorandum of Understanding” coming to an agreement on close cooperation within the games industry. This year Korea is the official partner country of gamescom.
“Gamescom is now taking place in Cologne for the fourth time, and NRW is certainly the right location for this internationally rated games fair. Publishers with a powerful turnover, a creative developer scene, interested cross-sector industries/content providers and of course an enthusiastic games audience all come together here,” says Petra Müller, CEO of the Film- und Medienstiftung.
Game Developers Conference, European Games Award, gamescom congress, gamescom festival, gamescom campus
The Game Developers Conference Europe takes place in the Koelnmesse during the run-up to gamescom from Monday to Wednesday (13.-15.08.). It offers opprtunities for exchange among the international developer scene. This year, again more than 1,500 participants and top-quality speakers from all over the world are expected. The European Games Award will be presented on the event ship Pure Liner 1 in Cologne on Tuesday, 14.08. – Europe’s biggest audience award for computer and video games pays tribute to the best games, developers, publishers, magazines and Internet platforms.
On Wednesday, 15.08., NRW Minister for Media, Angelica Schwall-Düren, will be opening the gamescom congress, which takes place this year under the motto “What’s next? World Export Leader Germany: Gaming?”. The second realisation of this two-day conference is located in the Congress Centrum Nord of the Koelnmesse. Organisers are the Minister for Europe, Federal Affairs and the Media of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware e. V. (BIU) and the City of Cologne.
The gamescom festival (17.-19.08.) offers an interactive entertainment and music programme between Rudolfplatz and Friesenplatz. Among presentations of games, show trucks and events, national and international acts will also take to the stage, incl. Kettcar, Thees Ullmann & Band, Bosse and Der König tanzt.
The gamescom campus features talks and shows at speakers' corner as well as advice on jobs and careers in the games field and ‘time travel’ through the computer world. The Department of Children, Youth and Family of the City of Cologne, in cooperation with ca. 30 institutions and youth projects run by youth support schemes and schools in NRW presents the “JugendForum NRW 2012 – Spielend Lernen in virtuellen Welten”, supported by the Ministry for Family, Children, Youth, Culture and Sport of NRW.
NRW: Germany’s Biggest Games Turnover
A creative games scene has settled in NRW, starting with a number of pioneers whose success story began here in the 1980s. Particularly in the Ruhr Metropolis, the turnover of the software and games industry rose by more than 120 per cent to 1.3 billion Euros between 2001 and 2007. Ranging from leading market players to prize-winning avantgarde designers, today the industry here is broad-based and successful: it has made NRW into Germany’s games location with the biggest turnover.