MCM EXPO PREVIEW 38 MCV 15/10/10
WWW.MCVUK.COM
On with the show
The popular MCM Expo has more games firms attending this month’s show than ever before – from publishers Ubisoft and EA to indie developers Curve. Bryan Cooney reveals what will be on display…
THE LONDON MCM EXPO, the UK’s largest entertainment consumer event, is now firmly established as London’s Comic-Con. This is a genre- spanning showcase of cult
entertainment and popular culture that gives visitors the chance to play, watch and preview the latest games, sci-fi shows, anime, manga and comics. But gaming will be a key component of this month’s London MCM Expo which runs from Friday, October 29th to Sunday, October 31st. The show represents the close of the 2010 London Games Festival for consumers.
As well as boasting Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood as the event’s official sponsor, the MCM Expo will see Nintendo, EA, Ubisoft, Tecmo Koei, Capcom, Warner Bros, Namco Bandai, Atari Europe, PQube, Zen United and Rising Star Games attend. Indie developer Curve Studios will showcase upcoming titles while online retailer
ShopTo.net will run a series of competitions and hand out freebies. The show’s growing games content – which outdoes that of many specialist events – is a major factor in driving up attendance year-on-year. The last London MCM Expo back in May broke attendance records with 43,000 visitors, and we are now hoping to top the 50,000 mark. The demographic range is also worth noting. While the vast majority of visitors are in the games industry’s prime 11- to 30-year-old target audience, the MCM Expo has also succeeded in attracting a strong female presence. Around a third of all visitors at the last show were female. This dramatic increase in visitor numbers has not only resulted in the
Expo expanding its overall floor space, but this month’s show will, for the first time, run across three days. Meanwhile, the number of stage zones has been increased to five, including the 1,000- seat MCM Expo Theatre and a dedicated stage for video game panels and presentations.
While the attendance of major games publishers, movie studios, anime distributors, top comic artists and writers provides a strong draw to
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The London MCM Expo is the closest that this country has to the famous San Diego Comic-Con.
Bryan Cooney, MCM Expo
visitors, the London MCM Expo is also well known for its events. For example, the upcoming show will play host to both the prestigious Eagle Awards for comics and publishing, and the EuroCosplay Championship Final. Here, 30 heat winners from 18 different countries will be competing for Europe’s cosplay dress-up crown. Awareness of the London MCM Expo has also been growing thanks to
extensive advertising across specialist magazines and websites, national and international media coverage and a vocal fan community that generates a huge volume of social media buzz. This month’s show will also be backed by advertising on the London Underground for the first time, with escalator ads at Oxford Circus, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Tottenham Court Road and Covent Garden, as well as four-sheet posters at various stations across the network. The London MCM
to promote their latest product to the UK audience, as well as a must-see event for Britain’s many anime, manga and cosplay fans.
The London MCM Expo is the closest that this country has to the famous San Diego Comic-Con. It is now, definitively, London’s own Comic-Con.
”
Bryan Cooney, MCM Expo,
Marketing Director
Expo’s ongoing growth in scale, prestige and visitor numbers has made the Excel-based show the ideal platform for the games, film and comic book industries
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