NewKidCo/Alpha: Games Software Industry at All Time High as London Plays Host To Biggest Ever ECTS"
LONDON, June 19 /PRNewswire/ -- "As an array of research confirms that the interactive entertainment industry is at a global all-time high, over 1,000 new games and home software products are expected to be unveiled in London in the Autumn as the European electronic entertainment industry gears itself up for its biggest event of the year.
Taking place at London's Olympia between 6th-8th September, ECTS is Europe's premier trade expo for the games and consumer software industry. ECTS '98 will feature more exhibitors than ever before across its three halls. More importantly, it will also provide the trade and press with a sneak preview of the games and consumer software and hardware technology that will take the games industry into the new Millennium.
ECTS will also provide a first look at the games that will be at the top of the charts this Christmas.
Interest has been heightened by the interactive entertainment business storming to a new all time high on the back of the Sony Playstation phenomenon, the emergence of Nintendo 64 and the continued strong growth in the PC sector. Combined industry revenues are now topping those generated by either the film or music industries. Sales of PC and console games in the UK alone are anticipated to pass the 1 billion pounds sterling mark in 1998.
A report recently published by business analysts Coopers & Lybrand predicts that the US market will expand by around 30 per cent in 1998, making it a $7 billion territory. Similar growth levels are expected in Europe, which accounted for $4.4 billion of the world's games market last year and where Sony will boast an installed base of 13 million Playstations by January 1st 1999. The global total is expected to hit 50 million by March 31st 1999.
Sony is expected to be one of the key attractions at ECTS '98, with a new wave of software plus new marketing plans due to be revealed. Global rival Nintendo will be determined to give the company a run for its money, however, with the very latest N64 games on show for the first time.
Other major exhibitors include Acclaim, Cendant, Eidos, Hasbro, Infogrames, Intel, LucasArts, Microsoft and Psygnosis. Toy giant Lego will also be launching its new software division. With products aimed at a 2-16 year olds market, Lego Media International is thought to be planning a major presence in software as it seeks to fulfill its parent's ambition of becoming the world's most powerful brand amongst families with children by 2005.
A record attendance is also guaranteed, with well over 20,000 attendees expected from nearly 60 countries around the world. In excess of 1,000 media representatives will also flock to ECTS, again with a high percentage of international delegates...ECTS Event Manager Andy Lane said: ''A major international event such as ECTS will inevitably reflect the fortunes of the industry it serves. And with the games and home computing industry booming all over the world, ECTS '98 will be the biggest and most exciting interactive entertainment expo ever staged in Europe.
''The market is going through very significant growth curves both in terms of sales and in the development and adoption of new technologies. 1998 will be a very exciting year to be at ECTS and witness the dynamic changes afoot in this vibrant industry that holds the key to so much of entertainment in the future..." source: © 1998
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