Devcom 2024 saw its highest attendance yet, with over 5,000 attendees, up 45% from 2023.
Organizers say the move to the new Koelnmesse Confex conference center allowed them to boost not only their speakers and partners, but also attendees, with 1,300 Gamescom trade visitors registered for the event.
The conference featured more than 350 speakers, 100 more than in 2023, who presented their topics in more than 210 sessions on 17 stages and the main stage.
The additional capacity allowed for the attendance of representatives from 1,660 companies from 83 countries, from small independent companies to “large established companies.”
“Other side events such as Xsolla Game Night, European Game Night and Courage Cologne contributed to attracting thousands more participants,” the organisers said.
“This year's devcom developer conference was an extraordinary success, exceeding all our expectations and breaking records,” said Stephan Reichart, CEO of game events GmbH.
“The move to the new Confex at Koelnmesse has allowed us to expand our offering and create a more spacious environment for our attendees, speakers and partners.
“Compared to last year, we recorded a 45% increase in visitor numbers, underlining the growing importance of Devcom within the global games industry. Our B2B programme was extremely well received, giving publishers and developers extra days to negotiate new projects at Devcom and Gamescom.”
Devcom organizers revealed the results of this year’s speaker survey earlier this week, noting that nearly 90% of respondents believed AAA games can be successful without including additional purchases.
The result comes after years of scrutiny over add-on purchases within the AAA gaming space, including loot boxes, battle/season passes, and progression boosters like XP multipliers and crafting resources.