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Consumer expo EGX has shrugged off competition from GAMEFest as it unveils Amazon as its new retail partner.
Organiser Rupert Loman told MCV that Amazon is the most relevant retail partner possible for the EGX audience.” GAME had previously worked as EGX’s retail support, before it decided to host its own consumer event this year.
Amazon’s approach and relentless focus on ensuring a great consumer experience has been refreshing to work with, and their relevance in the gaming market continues to grow – as demonstrated via their acquisition of Twitch – so it’s the ideal match,” Loman said.
EGX takes place at Birmingham NEC between September 22nd and 25th. GAMEFest happens at the end of August at the same venue.
We’ve seen zero impact from the GAMEFest announcement,” Loman continued. After nine years of growth and success, our momentum is strong and the game line-up for this year’s EGX is looking like the strongest ever thanks to the support of our publisher and developer partners.
We have seen other events come and go over the years but while we continue to deliver a great experience and value for our exhibitors we are confident in the show’s position and future growth.”
EGX has also added a ‘trade zone’ to the event this year in an effort to attract more publishers, developers and investors.
We’ve seen impromptu business being done at the show but it feels like a missed opportunity that the UK doesn’t have an internationally relevant trade show and we hope that over the coming years we grow the B2B elements at EGX to better reflect the UK’s standing in the global games business,” Loman said.
Amazon’s presence at EGX will give gamers the chance to pre-order titles, while the retailer will also promote the event via the website, its app and social media channels. Amazon will also host an EGX hub on its website and itscustomers can win tickets.
Every year we see our customers respond to the hands on experience and news coming out of EGX,” Amazon’s gaming category lead Russell Jones added.
