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    • GenCon Indy attendance record set

    The GenCon have announced a record attendance at the recent GenCon Indy 2008.

    From their announcement:

    Gen Con Indy 2008 wraps up its 41st year with stellar attendance! Gen Con was enjoyed by over 28,600 unique and over 95,800 turnstile attendees who converged on Indianapolis to make this year’s Gen Con the most successful to date. Both figures represent an increase of 6% over 2007 attendance, a testament to the growing interest in gaming.

    Attendees participated in over 6,000 events over the course of the four-day event. Some of the successful events included Wizards of the Coast’s 4th Edition D&D Tournaments, Upper Deck Entertainment’s World of Warcraft Miniatures Demos & World of Warcraft TCG Continental Tournaments, the eGame Arena with extended hours made possible by sponsor Cryptic Studios, Training Grounds &Settles of Catan World Championships sponsored by Mayfair Games, the Gen Con Dance, True Dungeon and the SPA program.

    “Given the state of the economy, the attendance we had at Indy tells me that gaming is more important than ever in our attendees lives, and that Gen Con adds a fun and unique experience to everyday life. We appreciate the support from all our attendees, sponsors and exhibitors who make Gen Con the show that it is and for that we say thank you,” said Adrian Swartout, president of Gen Con. “I’m looking forward to Indy 2009 and another great show!”

    Not only were attendance number high but there was a significant increase in the charity donations. Attendees participated in a variety of events to raise money for Gen Con Indy’s designated charity. Through donations from ESG Security, donation boxes as well as participation in the Charity Auction, Cardhalla, and Aces to Aces over $20,000 was raised to support the Fisher House Foundation. This number represents the largest donation amount ever raised over the four-day event. The Fisher House Foundation, a non-profit organization best known for the network of 39 comfort homes it provides as support for military families, was chosen this year to honor Gary Gygax, founder of Gen Con who recently passed away.

    Future Shows

    • Gen Con Indy August 13-16, 2009
    • Gen Con Australia July 2-5, 2009

  • Gen Con UK September 2-5, 2009

    • This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 and is filed under Events.

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    12 Responses to “GenCon Indy attendance record set”


    deanocware says:
    August 26th, 2008 at 8:23 pm

    I suspect A LOT of this increase was due to the release of the new D&D 4E.
    Steve says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 6:16 am

    I disagree. There is so much more to Gencon than D&D. The larger numbers could also be due to the closing of Gencon SoCal.
    Zac says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 6:18 am

    deanocware wrote:

    I suspect A LOT of this increase was due to the release of the new D&D 4E.

    I don’t think so. The Wizards booth was much leass heavily trafficed than it was last year.
    Zac says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 6:20 am

    Steve wrote:

    I disagree. There is so much more to Gencon than D&D. The larger numbers could also be due to the closing of Gencon SoCal.

    Lets also not forget that most people expected these numbers to be down because of the economy and concern about the show. So a 6% increase over last year is a pretty good sign.
    a_thousand_hats says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 6:21 am

    Maybe hobby gaming is just getting more affordable (e.g. more and more gamers are in the age bracket with well-paid jobs) to more people despite the price increases and hard economic times. Retail therapy to cheer ourselves up.
    Gregory Z. says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 6:46 am

    Well this does explain why it was so much more crowded on friday and saterday compared to last year. I think I had the worse time trying to get around the FFG booth more then any other booth this year.
    Zac says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 7:13 am

    a_thousand_hats wrote:

    Maybe hobby gaming is just getting more affordable

    Chris from FFG was saying that their take is that the hobby industry is basically immune from highs and lows in the economy. People don’t view it as a luxury item but as a lifestyle item and so they tend to spend money on their hobbies in good times and bad.
    a_thousand_hats says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 7:17 am

    @Zac - I’d read that hobbies are good business in economic downturns. Board games are supposed to see an increase in sales too as more families choose to stay at home than go spending money on days out. Even though I couldn’t make Gencon in the states (or UK either sadly) I’m very interested in the numbers of visitors/success of the events as a barometer of the industry as well as all the cool releases and gamer goodness being reported on :-)
    Hunter says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 2:29 pm

    It’s not just a hobby, it’s a lifestyle? :D
    Zac says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 2:53 pm

    Hunter wrote:

    It’s not just a hobby, it’s a lifestyle? :D

    I guess it depends on who you game with :-)
    Runelock says:
    August 27th, 2008 at 9:09 pm

    I view WOTC’s lesser showing as bad and good news. Wizards has been a dominant force at Gen Con for years. My friend who went said that they were stuck back in a corner this year. Last year the hype was HUGE for 4E. This year, we’ve seen it, and I’m willing to bet it hasn’t been the release of the century Wizards was hoping for.
    While I certainly don’t like to see an industry leader, like Wizards, go from hero to zero, it does allow for other, smaller companies to come up and shine.
    Also, it will hopefully swing the focus of future Gen Cons (which have always been RPG heavy) to more miniatures and board games :D
    Zac says:
    August 28th, 2008 at 6:49 am

    Runelock wrote:

    I view WOTC’s lesser showing as bad and good news. Wizards has been a dominant force at Gen Con for years. My friend who went said that they were stuck back in a corner this year.

    They were last year as well as WotC isn’t “stuck” anywhere. I assume they got that space because they wanted it.

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