IgroMir

IgroMir (, ''Gaming World'') was the first large-scale annual exhibition of computer and video games in Russia, organized in Moscow by the committee of the Russian Game Developers Conference from 2006 to 2019.

The exhibition quickly grew to a four-day event (Thursday to Sunday), with the first day reserved for industry members, the press, and VIPs. It was held on the first weekend of November at VDNKh Exhibition Center for its first five years, then from 2011 moved to Crocus Expo and was held on the first weekend of October. From 2014 to 2018, Comic-Con Russia was held as part of IgroMir and attendance averaged 160,000 people, the capacity of the venue. The 2019 event had the highest attendance record to date at over 183,000 people.

History

2006

The exhibition was first held from 4 to 5 November 2006, at the VDNKh Exhibition Center. According to the organizers, attendance exceeded 25,000 people. About 45 domestic and foreign companies were present, showing more than 100 games for different platforms.

2007

In 2007, IgroMir returned to the VDNKh Center for an expanded exhibition from 2 to 4 November (Friday to Sunday). The exhibition area increased from , and there were about 45,000 to 50,000 visitors, including exhibitors and the press. The exhibition was attended by domestic game companies such as Russobit-M, 1C, Akella, and Nival Online, as well as by Western publishers such as Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sony Computer Entertainment, Nintendo, Sega and others. Some games were shown to the public for the first time. Many were presented by developers, such as Epic Games President Mike Capps, Ubisoft's Jade Raymond and representatives of Bizarre Creations, Creative Assembly and Running with Scissors.

2008

IgroMir continued to grow and switched to a four-day format (Thursday to Sunday) held from 6 to 9 November in 2008. The first day was called the business day in which games were presented to industry members and the press in arelaxed business setting. The remaining three days were open to the public. The total number of visitors exceeded 65,000 people, with more than 120 exhibitors. Among them were leading western companies: Electronic Arts, Microsoft, Sony Computer Entertainment, Nintendo, Sega, Ubisoft, and Blizzard Entertainment. The total exhibition area increased to .

2009

The 2009 exhibition again took place at the VDNKh Center from 5 to 8 November. According to estimates of the organizers and the VDNKh police department, the exhibition was visited by 82,000 people. The exhibition attracted domestic game companies (such as 1C, Akella, Buka, Nival), and Western companies Microsoft, Sony Computer Entertainment, Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Activision, Nintendo and Sega. VIP guests to the exhibition included Joe Kucan and Anatoly Wasserman.

2010

In 2010, the fifth IgroMir was held from 3 to 6 November at VDNKh, and was partnered with Gamer.ru social network and Mail.ru. The exhibition was attended by more than 110 companies, and occupied more than of exhibition space. The business day was attended by more than 3,500 professionals and more than 900 members of the press. According to estimates of the organizers and police, over 90,000 people attended.

2011

The sixth edition of the exhibition was held at the Crocus Expo hall in Moscow, held from 6 to 9 October. The total size of the exhibition exceeded . It attracted Microsoft, Sony Computer Entertainment, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, 1C-SoftClub, Akella, Nival, Wargaming.net, Gaijin Entertainment, Blizzard Entertainment and others. In addition to exhibits, a main stage had a special entertainment program which included rapper Noize MC and Underwood. As in the previous three years, the four-day exhibition began with a business day followed by three public admission days.

2012

IgroMir 2012 was held from 4 to 7 October at Crocus Expo. For the first time, family games were exhibited in a separate room. There was also competitive gaming, featuring the final fights of the '' Panzar: Forged by Chaos'' game contest with prize money of  million.

2013

IgroMir 2013 was held from 3 to 6 October at Crocus Expo. Exhibition space was increased to , and Gaijin Entertainment's booth included two real WWII-era tanks. There was a separate room for competitive gaming, where tournaments were held for the final of ''League of Legends'', ''StarCraft II'', and others.

2014

In 2014, IgroMir was held from 2 to 5 October at Crocus Expo and combined with the Russian Game Developers Conference. The first Comic-Con Russia was also hosted as part of IgroMir. Attendance over the four days was estimated at 152,000.

2015

In 2015, IgroMir was held from 1 to 4 October at Crocus Expo, and again included Comic-Con Russia. Cosplayers were also recruited for the exhibition. Attendance exceeded 160,000.

2016

In 2016, IgroMir was held 29 September to 2 October at Crocus Expo. There were 250 exhibiting companies attracting 1,900 members of the press and an estimated 163,000 attendees.

2017

In 2017, IgroMir was held 28 September to 11 October at Crocus Expo. The main guests were game developer Richard Garriott, and actors Christopher Lloyd, Rutger Hauer and Stephanie Corneliussen. The exhibition area was , and estimated attendance was 164,000.

2018

In 2018, IgroMir was held from 4 to 7 October at Crocus Expo. Comic-Con Russia continued to be held with it. As in the past years, attendance strained the four-day 160,000-capacity limit of the venue.

2019

In 2019, the exhibition was held from 3 to 6 October at Crocus Expo. Attendance was estimated to be 183,000.

2020

In 2020, the exhibition was scheduled to be held from 1 to 4 October at Crocus Expo, but it was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic.

2021

In 2021, the exhibition was scheduled to be held from 7 to 10 October at Crocus Expo, but it was cancelled again due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Future

There have been no official announcements for IgroMir since 2022, presumably due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Attendance

See also

* Asia Game Show
* Electronic Entertainment Expo
* Game Developers Conference
* Gamescom
* Games Convention
* Paris Game Festival
* Russian Game Developers Conference
* Tokyo Game Show

References

External links

Official website

{{Video Game Trade Shows

Defunct gaming conventions
Events in Moscow
Video game trade shows
Video gaming in Russia