Due to there not being enough registered exhibitors and planned presentations, the Games Convention Online will now be a trade only event, open only to invited industry members, and closing its doors to the general public, Leipziger Messe announced.
Confirming the change, strategy director Silvana Kuerschner, said in a press release, “This is a regrettable, but necessary decision. That would neither guarantee the business success of the trade show, nor satisfy the interest of visitors whose past experiences bring them with high expectations to Leipzig.”
This isn’t the first change of format that the erstwhile premier games show has undergone. Once the central European gaming event, it began to lose relevance to Gamescon, and was last held in its old format in 2008. In 2009, the organisers shifted the show ‘online.’
This year’s Games Convention Online is slated to take place from July 8-10 in Leipzig.