Barcelona became the capital of global gaming when a record 62,988 industry professionals from 162 nations attended the 2026 edition of World Gaming Week. The total, a 5% increase on the 2025 attendance of 59,939 represents the biggest gathering of industry professionals in the history of gaming.
The independently audited and verified attendance comprised 51,996 visitors to ICE, (+4% on 2025) and 10,992 for iGB Affiliate (+11%). The figures set new records for both event brands with visitation, which measures the number of visitor days, hitting 120,439 – up 9% year-on-year.
World Gaming Week lived up to its name attracting representatives from across the globe stretching from Brazil to Belgium, Nigeria to the Netherlands and Canada to Cyprus. Host nation Spain topped the league table of represented countries with 10,209 nationals participating in World Gaming Week followed by the United Kingdom (5,999), Malta (3,187), Cyprus (2,628), Ukraine (2,512), Poland (2,247), the United States (1,568), Italy (1,353), Germany (1,165) and Bulgaria (1,076).
Reflecting on the figures World Gaming Managing Director Stuart Hunter said: “Whilst attendance can only tell part of the story, we are naturally delighted that both ICE and iGB Affiliate Barcelona continue to grow and continue to resonate with industry stakeholders from every corner of the world. The uptick in attendance from continents and regions including Africa (+65% year-on-year) and Latin America (+40%) reflect the reach of World Gaming Week and also serve as a powerful endorsement of the targeted engagement and promotional campaigns that we deployed to support the business objectives of our exhibitors.
“January’s editions were notable for a number of landmarks. It was the first occasion that total attendance exceeded 60,000, the first time that iGB Affiliate broke through the symbolic 10,000 figure and the first time that visitation was more than 120,000. Significantly, all of our attendance figures are independently audited meaning that our commercial partners can make informed business decisions based on the facts.”
Looking beyond the headline attendance figures Stuart Hunter added: “As well as the 25,000+ products and services launched by the industry’s pre-eminent innovators World Gaming Week also provided a platform to explore the relationship between gaming and new technologies, in particular AI, data, player protection, automation and operational performance.
“In terms of show features the Sustainable Gambling Zone (SGZ) once again demonstrated how the industry is committed to player protection and the World Gaming Forum featured CEOs, politicians, regulators, and industry associations, who gathered in Barcelona to debate the most important issues impacting the industry not least the threat posed by the illegal market.”
“It is the connections made during World Gaming Week and the conversations that take place involving games creators, operators, regulators, politicians and policy makers, that will shape the future of gaming across continents during 2026 and beyond.
“Many of those key conversations that began in Barcelona will be continued and developed further when the industry meets in London for July’s edition of iGB L!VE.”
