Simon Liddle reports on the recent EAG show held in London, UK.
AMONG the many things discussed by exhibitors during January’s EAG International was the decision to move the dates of the show a week earlier and whether this had an impact on attendance. There was no definitive answer; some exhibitors expressed concern that visitor traffic, particularly international, seemed light, while others claimed that the event had once again been a success.
The sixth edition of the annual London show, which this year also incorporated the inaugural Visitor Attraction Expo, was once again held at the ExCeL exhibition centre. There were few product surprises for those who had made the trip to November’s IAAPA Attractions Expo, but the show did provide an opportunity for the many who did not to experience the newly launched product ranges from leading manufacturers for the first time. Due to the peculiarities of the UK market, it also sees suppliers of family amusement equipment exhibit alongside manufacturers of AWPs and associated peripheral equipment. For those involved in the UK gaming industry, the products on show at EAG are often being premiered for the first time.
On the amusements side, the show continues to attract the industry’s major players, although often through local distributors. Sega and Bandai Namco each took large booths at the show, highlighting their latest video and redemption titles as well as equipment from their manufacturing partners - ICE and Pan Amusements in the case of Sega, and Adrenaline and Raw Thrills on the Namco stand - while Crown Direct, Electrocoin, Harry Levy and UDC ensured that international names, such as Benchmark, LAI, Elaut, Wahlap and Betson had a significant presence at the show.
There was also an opportunity to see the latest lines of prizes on offer from Whitehouse Leisure, which covered three stands at the show, PMS International and Sega and Namco’s own dedicated prize divisions, Sega Prize and Bandai Namco Prize Europe, respectively. There were new jukeboxes and other creative music technologies presented by Sound Leisure, NSM and, recent addition to the coin-op field, Lounge Lizzard.
Read the full article in the March issue of InterGame
