Gamescom, which has be running since 2009, attracts about 320,000 visitors from over 100 countries every year. The addition of tabletop games area to this event is a major change for Gamescom, as it had been mostly about video games for its entire existence. This is a strategic upgrade for Gamescom, primarily because the tabletop is a billion dollar industry that will likely add new visitors. Additionally, video game licenses have been more frequently appearing as mainstay IPs for tabletop games. Gamescom will happen again on August 21-25, 2024.
On the other side of the pond, E3 announced that it has shut down. This convention was first launched in 1995, but the show began to lose popularity in the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic forcing the cancellation of the show in 2020 and virtual show in 2021 was too much to bear. The show was then cancelled in 2022 (see "Post-COVID Conscape") and 2023 after E3 had problems finding exhibitors.![](https://icv2.com/images/article_thumbs/650x650_6f1c1ee9c6dc7a14d8220759517d5950852b13baf9bfb629e1582254.jpg)
While E3 Closes Up Shop
Posted by Jeffrey Dohm-Sanchez on December 14, 2023 @ 11:24 am CT
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Gamescom, the world's largest video game trade show held in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, announced that it is adding a tabletop games area to its convention. In the meantime, Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), a North American video game trade show, announced that they were shutting down.