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One of the largest dates on the gaming calendar is the London Games Festival, which runs from 22nd to 25th September 2011 near Earl's Court in London. At the time it was announced, it was settled into a nice, solo spot. It seems that's set to change. KitGuru brings the runners under starter's orders.
Multiplay i43 will take place in Newbury, over the Summer Bank Holiday at the end of August. In October, Dennis Publishing will be pushing out the London International Technology Show at the Excel Centre in London's East End.
Slotted in between these two is a unique chance for ardent gamers to get hands-on with games that won't be in stores until Christmas.
Well, it was unique. An opportunity for HMV to associate itself with leading edge gaming in all its forms.
Unique, until now.
Now it seems that high-street-mega-game-reseller GAME is likely to buy a slot around 2 weeks earlier, for almost exactly the same purpose. It is something that GAME has run successfully in Spain, and they now want to bring the model to the UK. It's no accident that they have decided to run it just in front of the HMV event.
Given that it can easily cost >£20,000 to buy and run a stand at one of these shows, the channel is left asking “How many game shows can the market support – in the space of a few weeks?”
Also, “Can anyone ignore the GAME event ?”
Well, there may not be a lot of choice. If you want to stock games in the UK and you're told that attendance at the GAME event is ‘mandatory if you want to place orders for certain hot titles' (something that was overheard recently), then you might have to pony up the cash.
While the HMV/EuroGamer event looks really strong right now, it will be interesting to see if it is still as strong next year.
KitGuru says: From the end of August to the start of October, we now have i43, GAME, Games Festival and LITS. Will we still have all 4 in 2012? The Multiplay i-Series will certainly see an i46, but what about the others? Watch this space.
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