gamescom, the new European trade-show and event highlight for the interactive-games industry, is taking shape. Internationally recognised games expert Frank Sliwka, 46, will use his company Global Games Media (GGM) to organise a conference for game developers from around the world at the Cologne trade-fair venue. Planned jointly with Koelnmesse, the conference is designed to become Europe’s most important communication platform for game developers. Significantly more than 1,000 developers and industry representatives from around the world are expected at its Cologne premiere to exchange experience and network. In addition to the conference as the centrepiece of gamescom’s professional programme, Frank Sliwka and Koelnmesse will work closely together on the development, strategy and internationalisation of gamescom.
“We are very much looking forward to working with Frank Sliwka and Global Games Media. His decision in favour of Cologne and his confidence in the new trade-show location demonstrate that we are on the right path to establishing gamescom as Europe’s leading trade-show and event highlight in a very short time,” said Koelnmesse managing director Oliver P. Kuhrt.
Frank Sliwka said: “Cologne and gamescom offer ideal conditions for every target group in the global games industry. At the developer conference, game developers from around the world will be able to engage in a creative and constructive exchange of ideas and thus play a major role in shaping the industry’s future.” Sliwka is internationally recognised as an industry and trade-show expert and has organised the International eSport Conference in Cologne, the world’s only conference for electronic sports, since 2004. Formerly responsible for the games and IT sections of IFA and HomeTech in Berlin, he founded Global Games Media in 2002 and until recently worked as a national and international consultant and strategy director for the Games Convention in Leipzig.
