14 DAY TRIAL // Capcom has announced on its European blog that it will not be attending GamesCom in Köln, Germany this year because it apparently does not have any titles to show to the German audience. This seems a bit misguided, as GamesCom is the biggest video game related event in Europe that is guaranteed to attract foreign publicity as well.
The blog post stated that, “GamesCom allows publishers and developers an excellent opportunity to promote their titles to both consumers and media. Therefore when taking the decision to exhibit we must weigh up what we can offer both of these groups at that time. In the case of consumers we feel it makes sense for them to experience the titles that will be available in stores over the next few months and right now we have confirmed two titles for release between August and the end of the year – Dead Rising 2 and Sengoku Basara Samurai Heroes.”
Furthermore, it is said that, “As you are probably aware the first Dead Rising was banned in Germany and as we are still awaiting a verdict from the USK for Dead Rising 2 it would be remiss of us to promote the sequel to consumers in Germany. While Sengoku Basara is a great title we cannot justify solely exhibiting this one game. While Capcom will not have a presence in the Köln Messe at this year’s GamesCom we will be meeting with media to preview some of our forthcoming titles.”
This does seem a financially sound decision, however, given the high costs of last month's Electronic Entertainment Expo. It seems that the expenses required by these trade shows, as well as the difficult economic climate have urged video game outfits to make tough choices between the conventions they can afford to attend. SEGA is another publisher that has decided not to have a presence at GamesCom this year. On the other hand, ArenaNet, the developer of Guild Wars 2, chose to forgo getting to E3 and have a stronger booth at the German venue because of because of better consumer exposure.