Gaming convention ends in Cologne, attracts 320,000 visitors

Gamescon, the world's largest computer and video game trade fair wrapped up on Sunday in the west German city of Cologne after drawing significantly more visitors than in 2022, reported dpa.

Around 320,000 visitors attended the fair this year, according to organizers. Attendance remains below the pre-pandemic peak of 373,000 people in 2019 before the coronavirus forced the event to become temporarily online-only.

Among the exhibitors were Nintendo, Xbox, Tencent and Ubisoft, as well as streaming services Netflix, Amazon Prime and Crunchyroll.

The gaming industry has been growing for years, but German video game developers play only a small role. Beyond the massive interest in games, the industry's innovations in areas including artificial intelligence and virtual reality are seen as having major potential impacts on other areas of the economy.

Berlin has provided subsidies to the games industry aimed at growing the Germany's position. However, tight government budgets for 2024 include proposed cuts in funding.

That has drawn criticism for German video and computer game companies, who fear they will become less competitive against global rivals.