The SPIEL Essen gaming convention established new records for attendance at the show on October 23 to October 25, 2026.
This year’s show had 230,000 attendees, passing last year’s record by 10,000 more attendees (see “Attendance Record“). The event was sold out for all four days. They had increased the square footage of the exhibit area by opening up Hall 8 to accommodate the extra attendees; the new record-size for the exhibit area stands at 81,200 square meters.
The number of exhibitors also increased from 948 to 997. There were 2,012 new releases showcased at this year’s event (up from 1,700). The new highlight events added to this year’s show were a Warhammer 40,000 Laser Tag arena, which was open daily, and an inaugural TCG Awards gala ceremony.
Source: ICv2
