2007 Games Convention Asia Announced

Organizers of GCA Games Convention Asia, have announced that an inaugural pan-Asian consumer, trade, and developer conference will take place in Singapore from September 7-9, 2007. The convention will focus on the Asian video game market, with an aim to establish what will be the region’s largest exhibition devoted to digital media, computer games, entertainment and educational software as well as hardware. The rights to use the name ‘Games Convention’ were granted to the show's organizers by The Leipzig Fair, the organizer of Europe's successful Leipzig Games Convention (GC). The organizers noted that they hope to attract nearly 200 exhibitors from the Asia–Pacific region – mainly China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and India – to take part in the exhibition’s debut. In addition, they expect the event to draw in excess of 100,000 visitors from Singapore and surrounding areas, including 5,000 trade visitors. The Asian games market is known to be growing rapidly. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, its turnover in 2009 will be in the order of $23 billion. Asia's online games sector alone currently has a volume of $6.3 billion – and by 2008 looks set to reach $7.5 billion. CEMS added that the GCA Games Convention Asia 2007 is designed to appeal to trade visitors and professional developers, as well as general fans of computer games. To facilitate this, the event will feature four distinct “pillars” to appeal to a wide array of attendees, including an exhibition hall where new games can be tested, a business center for suppliers and purchasers to meet up and do business, the three-day Games Developer Asia Conference (not affiliated with the Game Developers Conference), and the GCA 2007 Cyber Games Competition. GCA Games Convention Asia will be officially supported by the Economic Development Board, which spearheads economic growth in Singapore; the Infocomm Development Authority, the country’s IT and telecoms agency; the Media Development Authority; the Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau; and the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation, along with recognized Singaporean business organizations such as the Digital Media Chapter, Games eXchange Alliance, and the Singapore Gamers’ Association. “The global networking in telecommunications, the friendly business climate in Singapore, the strict, reliable laws protecting intellectual property, and the strong media and digital entertainment market all make Singapore increasingly attractive to companies in the electronic games industry,” Marzin commented during the contract signing for the event. “We believe that GCA 2007 will be an outstanding B2B forum attracting exhibitors and visitors from all the ASEAN states and Asia’s three key markets: China, India and Korea. GCA is a neutral, unique platform for effective communication and initiating business contacts.”