German Reports Suggest Leipzig Shift News
Jon Wilcox
22/02/2008
National newspaper reports that the Game Convention will be renamed and moved from East to West in 2009...
As the Leipzig Game Convention continues to grow in stature each year, so the sounds of discontent about it's difficult to reach location in the former East Germany grows ever louder.
Reports at the end of GC 2007 suggested that a move was on the cards to one of the bigger cities in the west of the country, with Hamburg, Cologne, and Frankfurt all put forward as potential candidates. Today it seems that a final decision has been made, with Cologne winning out.
An article in the conservative newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is reporting that the BIU (the German Software board), has settled for the North Reine region to host the event from 2009, with official confirmation due on Monday - though the decision isn't without costs.
Although the BIU was one of the creators of the Games Convention back in 2002, the name of the event was - and continues to be - owned by the Leipziger Messe, the modern five-hall setting for the event since it launched. And they're not willing to sell the name for Cologne's event next year. Instead, the BIU have renamed the event 'Games Comm', enabling the GC shorthand to continue beyond Leipzig. Despite losing the European event, the Leipziger Messe remains on course to continue the Games Convention brand in the Far East, with the Singapore event (Game Convention Asia) so far remaining on the calendar.
Additional details on the move from East to West are expected on Monday.