It is on now... Cologne or Leipzig?

At the end of Games Convention in Leipzig (21-24 August), next year's dates were announced. The show will return next year, 19-23 August, same venue, but will the exhibitors return? Today I got a press release from Gamescom, the new German trade event that will be held in Cologne 9-13 September 2009.

It is only natural to be suspicious of a press release where the word trade is misspellt and the grammar is a bit lacking, but the people from Cologne seem confident that Gamescom will be the German event to attend next year.

Excerpt from the press release:

Premiere for Europe's trade fair and event highlight, gamescom: Traide fair venue Cologne celebrates the games

Starting with the offerings for trade and regular visitors at the exhibition centre, gamescom will bring the fascinating world of video games to the city and beyond.

Europe's new trade fair and event highlight of the interactive game industry, gamescom, will celebrate its premiere. From 9 to 13 September 2009, Koelnmesse and the Federal Association of Interactive Entertainment Software (BIU), the ideal sponsor of the event as of 2009, will be extending an invitation to the new European games platform for the international games community. At the same time, gamescom is much more than a just fair for trade and general visitors. It is also designed as an event and entertainment celebration throughout Cologne. Whether in the trade visitors area, in the general visitors halls, as part of the specialised or social fringe and regular events programme at the trade fairgrounds and the hotspots in the city: gamescom and its players will "Celebrate the Games," as the event motto goes. Oliver P. Kuhrt, Managing Director of Koelnmesse GmbH: "Along with our exhibitors we will bring the fascinating world of interactive games from the trade fairgrounds to the city and beyond the city limits. With gamescom's innovative concept we can have all target groups participating actively, ranging from the intensive players to the occasional players."

The Germans are going to war it seems - Leipziger Messe owns the rights for Games Convention, but the trade organisation wants to move to Cologne. I just hope that this won't end up the same way things did when ECTS was falling apart and a new challenger popped up, and then everything fell apart. Europe needs at least one big trade event every year and for the last few years that has been Games Convention in Leipzig. I guess we will know if we still have one in twelve months time... because I don't see the games industry spending money on two huge trade shows in Germany.

Below is an aerial picture of Koelnmesse - the site for Gamescon next year.