ICE gains even more global weight and the gaming industry is strengthened with Informa

The integration of Clarion Events into Informa places ICE within one of the largest international groups of B2B events, data and professional content, multiplying its projection capacity and giving even more visibility to the gaming industry.

ICE gains weight. And with it, so does the gaming industry.

The acquisition of Clarion Events by Informa places the major international event in the sector within a business structure of an even larger scale, with more financial capacity, more international presence and enormous experience in the management and expansion of large professional communities.

Yesterday, INFOPLAY already advanced the scope of the operation in the news "ICE changes ownership after the sale of Clarion Events to Informa for 2,240 million pounds", one of the largest recent operations within the global business of B2B fairs and events. Read INFOPLAY's news about the purchase of Clarion by Informa

The operation means that Clarion Events, owner of Clarion Gaming and organizer of ICE Barcelona and iGB Affiliate, leaves Blackstone's orbit and becomes part of Informa.

For ICE, movement means gaining muscle, reach and global reach.

For the gaming industry, it also represents a significant opportunity: one of its main international showcases becomes part of a group that already manages some of the largest professional platforms in the world and that combines events, content, data, digital products and business communities.

Informa operates internationally on a large scale and its portfolio includes brands such as Money20/20, Cannes Lions, Black Hat, Game Developers Conference and London Tech Week, major events capable of bringing together tens of thousands of professionals and turning each event into a business ecosystem that works far beyond the days of celebration.

The images of these events show precisely the type of dimension that ICE now accesses: large exhibition areas, large auditoriums, networking areas, content and international professional communities.

The integration of Clarion also adds more than 100 specialized brands to the Informa structure.

ICE thus enters an organization with proven experience not only in filling large venues, but also in extending brands throughout the year through content, data, networking and new lines of business.

The move also coincides with another debate that INFOPLAY put on the table yesterday: the growing weight of parallel content within ICE Barcelona.

INFOPLAY also published that ICE Conference 2027 will deploy seven large blocks of conferences in parallel to the activity of the stands, with content on acquisition, regulation, compliance and innovation, a program that will compete directly for the time of visitors during the three days of the fair. Read INFOPLAY's news about the parallel agenda of ICE 2027

Precisely there may be one of the keys to the new stage.

Informa has enormous experience in turning events into permanent platforms for business, content and community, so its arrival can further reinforce that dimension of ICE.

For the gaming sector, the reading is powerful: ICE does not lose identity; it gains scale.

And with this new scale, the industry can also gain more international visibility, more ability to connect with other industries, more investment and an even more powerful global platform to showcase its innovation.

ICE was already one of the great global events of the game. With Informa behind it, it can gain even more weight. And with it, so does the industry itself.