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SINGAPORE: Singapore's gaming industry is about to get even bigger, when the country hosts an Asian edition of gamescom next year.

The world's largest gaming festival and trade show, gamescom, will be held in Singapore from Oct 15 to 18, 2020.





The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) signed a memorandum of understanding with event organiser Koelnmesse to mark a new partnership for the festival.

Organisers are hoping the inaugural Asian edition in Singapore will attract more than 30,000 enthusiasts and gaming industry professionals.

The event will be a four-day affair, and will consist of an industry gaming conference and a trade and public exhibition.



The gamescom event in Germany last year saw 370,000 visitors and more than 1,000 exhibitors.





"We feel that the region is hungry and is ready for this,” said Mathias Kuepper, managing director of Koelnmesse.

“It's fun, but also business. For the end consumers, there are so many gamers here and some of the fastest growing markets in the world.

"But it's also serious business, and has big potential here in the region for global game publishers, investors and so on who see this as the future market."

Singapore is the ideal place to host the event, said Mr Kuepper. It will also help further the nation's ambition to be an e-sports hub for the region.

Technology expert Oo Gin Lee said gamescom will bring invaluable experience and opportunity to gaming developers here.



"On a scale of one to 10 on the Richter scale, this is like 11 for the Singapore gaming community," he said.

"I do hope that there'll be segments where they can showcase some of the local game developers. They really need an outlet to show the talent and the expertise of made in Singapore games."



STB's director of exhibitions and conferences Andrew Phua said the event will provide a platform for game developers, audio professionals, industry stakeholders and financiers to look at Singapore as a hub to build content.



"Singapore provides that neutral marketplace and hub for all these people to come together to learn, to collaborate, and to get new knowledge in terms of thought leadership," he said.

