Gamescom Reveals 254,000 Attendees, Sony's Big Wins

Last week's consumer-focused Gamescom event saw some 254,000 guests and 505 exhibitors from 33 countries, says event organizer Koelnmesse. That's significantly more than Gamescom 2009's 459 exhibitors and 245,000 guests. Organizers claim Gamescom 2010 was "a completely successful event," also revealing big winners in its 'Best Of Gamescom' awards, with Sony achieving wins in three different categories. Sony's Gran Turismo 5, developed by Polyphony Digital, was recognized with the overall "Best of Gamescom" nod, and also won the "Console Games" category. PlayStation Move also triumphed among "Hardware Accessories", in a set of event awards judged by gaming press and specialty retailers. The complete list of winners is as follows: Best Of Gamescom: Gran Turismo 5 (Sony) Hardware Accessories: PlayStation Move (Sony) Console Games: Gran Turismo 5 (Sony) Mobile Games: Super Scribblenauts (Warner Bros.) Online Games: Guild Wars 2 (NCsoft) PC Games: Crysis 2 (Crytek) Best Of Family Entertainment: Kirby’s Epic Yarn (Nintendo) "After the successful premiere, this year we managed to make Gamescom even larger and more international, as well as welcome both more exhibitors and more visitors," said Koelnmesse managing director Oliver Kuhrt. "The amount of positive feedback from the industry, trade and private visitors as well as the media shows us that gamescom 2010 was a completely successful event." "We are already looking forward to a successful continuation next year," adds Olaf Wolters, managing director of the German Federal Association of Interactive Entertainment Software (BIU), which acted as "conceptual sponsor" for the event. Next year's Gamescom event will take place August 17-21, 2011, returning once again to Cologne, alongside the Game Developers Conference Europe, which also confirmed record attendance and a return from August 15-17, 2011 at the same location.