It was a trade fair of records: SPIEL Essen 2025, which took place from October 23 to 26. One in particular stands out because the planning behind it was not mandatory.
"I actually didn't want to open a new hall this year," says Carol Rapp, Managing Director of the organizing company Merz Verlag. "But demand for booth space from our exhibitors was so high that this was the only way we could fulfill the many requests – and we still had to open a waiting list after the registration deadline." Ultimately, the organizers decided to open Hall 7 after all. A positive effect that can now be measured in numbers: additional visitors were able to access the grounds.
"After surprisingly selling out for the first time last year, we wanted to make it possible for more people to attend SPIEL this year," says Rapp. "With Hall 7, we were able to increase the number of available tickets. The fact that we were still sold out every day is absolutely impressive."
With 220.000 visitors from all over the world, this year's largest games fair more than surpassed the previous visitor record set in 2019. The fair was sold out every day. A new exhibition space record of 77.500 m² was announced even before the event began, as Hall 7, the first completely new hall, was opened, and all areas were fully booked. 948 exhibitors from 50 nations brought more than 1.700 new products to Essen. And a world record for the largest CATAN game was set on Friday. SPIEL 2025 was a massive celebration of the gaming world.
The trade fair's exhibitors are delighted by the high demand for games. "We see the enthusiasm for the topic every day at our booth; all our tables are occupied the whole time," says Hermann Hutter, owner of Hutter Trade/Huch! and chairman of the Association of Game Publishers. "For us as exhibitors, this is one of the most rewarding aspects of the trade fair: the direct feedback from people. Here, we meet the fans of our games in person." But business meetings and meetings are also highly valued at SPIEL. "A lot of business takes place at the trade fair away from the gaming tables. We meet partners, authors, associations, and media from all over the world. Nowhere else can you cultivate contacts as effectively as at SPIEL."
Robert Geistlinger, president of the American publisher Arcane Wonders, can only confirm this: "SPIEL is the most important trade fair for us to meet partners from all over the world and make new contacts. Especially in the current global situation, this gathering and dialogue is more important than ever." At the same time, he emphasizes the importance of the fair for new releases. "The number of games from all over the world appearing here for the first time is much higher this year than before. Everyone is using this show to present their new games because it's so large and the delivery here is easier. We have eight new titles there; we usually release about three at the fair."
"At the fair, the joy of games is also the focus for exhibitors. At the same time, an incredible number of effective business developments emerge here – and this happens quite naturally. I don't know of any other event that serves as powerful a springboard for launching a business as SPIEL," says Florian Hess, Managing Director of Merz Verlag and Board Member of Spielwarenmesse eG. "I've met exhibitors who first started here a few years ago with a small booth and now occupy several hundred square meters and sell games internationally. Witnessing this kind of B2B rocket launch never ceases to fascinate me."
The Kosmos The publisher is also delighted to have celebrated a new world record with CATAN – Connect in the adjacent Grugahalle. To mark its 30th anniversary, the publisher hosted the largest simultaneous game of all time at SPIEL: 1.170 people responded, setting the new record.
With a large stage area in Hall 4, Merz Verlag set new standards and brought the accompanying SPIEL.talks program directly to the people in the hall. Previously, this program, including Educators Day, took place in conference rooms. By moving it directly to the exhibition area and the state-of-the-art stage, the extensive and exciting program was much more visible and attracted significantly more visitors. Stage events such as a talk about the various jobs available in the industry and how to get them, a cosplay and character play catwalk, a panel about the various international events, and a live role-playing with actors all attracted crowds.
A special highlight was once again the Golden Demon, Games Workshop's world-renowned miniature painting competition, the European portion of which will be held at SPIEL. Over 1.000 miniatures were submitted for on-site evaluation by the judges, who awarded prizes in 14 categories. Albert Moreto Font took the overall victory and received the legendary Slayer Sword as a trophy on stage.
New ambassador of SPIEL
This year, SPIEL once again had an ambassador, Mháire Stritter, who brought the fair and the enthusiasm for gaming to an even wider audience. Stritter, who is known as a journalist, presenter, professional role-playing instructor, as well as for her LARP and cosplay, lives and loves gaming of all kinds. She demonstrated this both as she walked through the halls and especially through an interactive live role-playing on stage, which featured actors depicting the narrative action.
Mháire Stritter is the fair's second ambassador, following the project's very successful launch last year.
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