1 August 2023 is a day Clarion Gaming staff will never forget.
ICE, a trade show synonymous with London for over 20 years, and the subject of more transfer speculation than a new Real Madrid signing, was finally confirmed to be moving to Barcelona.
From 2025, ICE would have a new home – and the news sent ripples through gaming. Excitement was countered by fear of the unknown, and the understandable question was asked: would this prove a good move for the industry and could Barcelona top London?
Fast forward to January 2025 and, with the first-ever ICE Barcelona now wrapped up, what have we learned?
The space race
While the ExCel had become a familiar home for ICE attendees, and while it's not a venue one could exactly call "small," gaming's growth meant an inelastic demand for greater exhibition space. Not only did land-based suppliers need more stand space to exhibit slot machines (with transport to London post-Brexit creating further issues), online gaming exhibitors' stands have multiplied in size in recent years.
Last week, that need for more space was met – and the evidence was clear to see across the biggest stands in Barcelona.
The Fira Gran Via is a truly enormous venue, with ICE even planning to use more of it next year (the affiliate show will move to Hall 8 and the main show will be extended to Hall 1, as well).
Clarion Gaming Managing Director Stuart Hunter did admit on the Huddle that walking around the show was "exhausting" for his team, with visitors sure to feel that too. But it was a productive exhaustion; a tiredness earned by all.
There were murmurings of ICE perhaps being "too big" this year – but if your main problem is the need for space, it's simply unfair to criticise a solution that, ultimately, is overly effective.
The new layout, similar to the SBC Lisbon event, separates halls based on gaming sector, meaning those looking for payments can find the payments hall, those looking for iGaming can find iGaming suppliers, and so on and so forth.
The BetConstruct stand had plenty of room to breathe at the Fira Gran Via – and it wasn't the only one
Ahead of the curve
Naturally, it may have taken everyone a while to gain their navigational bearings at the Fira, given the ExCel London's straightforward up-and-down process of walking through the main corridor.
For a first attempt, though, it's fair to say ICE Barcelona is well ahead of the curve. Organisationally, the Clarion team may have expected the kind of results they achieved this year to have been par for the course only for a second or third year.
An attendance of 30,000 was promised and it looked to the naked eye like every single one of that number had made the trip. As Hunter pointed out in his Huddle, every single one of those visitors would have felt like they got what they came for.
The ability to walk between halls via the upstairs corridor, as well as the chance to go outside for fresh air, all added a superior experience at the Fira – answering genuine questions as to whether Barcelona could live up to London's reputation.
Obviously, ICE London was iconic and there's no need to suddenly pretend we didn't enjoy attending the ExCel every year. But Barcelona has exceeded expectations.
Sweating the small stuff
In terms of minute details that made ICE Barcelona tick, SavageTech CEO Tom Lemke told us this is the best show he has ever attended in terms of concrete business leads. Yes, moving ICE forward from February to January didn't help with pre-show deadline stress – but there appeared to be a greater desire to sit down and conduct business a little earlier in the year.
Start-up SavageTech and its gamification software may be one to watch – which is a personal opinion and certainly not the result of any advertising – but if a start-up is seeing more concrete leads than usual, imagine what the biggest suppliers in the industry are saying post-ICE?
The art of the press conference was also one worth examining in Barcelona. Several brands presented speakers in this format and some had more joy than others. Betby, in particular, stood out with its presentation of chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen.
Despite the large-scale move to Barcelona, Hunter actually said this was the smoothest ICE preparation he has experienced – and it's not hard to believe him.
Exhibitors enjoyed space and, importantly, traffic – with the above just a moderate example of how busy the show got throughout the week
Could there have been small tweaks for greater efficiency? Sure; and we may well see them in the coming years. Food (catering demands were also mentioned by Hunter) was perhaps the first topic people went to when looking for improvements.
There could have been slightly more effective map indicators at certain points and there is an argument to return iGB Affiliate to its old format of having its own separate day, avoiding overlap.
Final word
And yet these are the only real pain points the industry can point to after the busiest trade show of the year.
For a first show in a new major country and city, Clarion Gaming can consider that an unequivocal success. Barcelona was different to London; as a city, it was neither necessarily better nor worse. There are things to improve for next year (as was the case every year in the ExCel, too).
In terms of major talking points, however, Barcelona exceeded expectations. The move to the Fira Gran Via, I think it's not too bold to say, can already be considered a success.
Especially when you look back to just how much space industry giants had to showcase their products at stands.
Vamos Barcelona!?