About a year from now (September 21-23, 2010), the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) will kick off its GamePlan Summit 2010 event. The conference, taking place at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago, IL, is "designed to compress the months-long sales tour into two and one-half days of consolidated retailer-supplier meetings in one convenient location."
“EMA-member retailers came to us noting that, while there are excellent events for video game consumers, developers, and the media, there is no event that brings together the leading video game retailers and publishers for strategically focused business-to-business meetings, and they asked us to fill that void,” said EMA President and CEO Bo Andersen. “The GamePlan Summit will bring all the major players under one roof so attendees can conduct their business meetings efficiently and build meaningful partnerships for the future.”
The GamePlan Summit has yet to reveal its full conference details, but it apparently already has support from Toys "R" Us and Target (no word yet from Best Buy, Walmart or GameStop).
Bill Lee, EMA Secretary and Vice President, Divisional Merchandise Manager, Toys“R”Us, U.S., stated, “We are very excited about the opportunity that the GamePlan Summit presents for retailers to meet with publishers to review business objectives and shared goals. This new forum for candid exchange with strategic partners in the video game industry should prove highly productive for all who attend.”
Troy Peterson, Senior Buyer -- Interactive Entertainment, Target Corporation, and chair of EMA’s Game Retailing Council, declared, “Industry retailers are rallying around the need for a strategic planning session with our publisher partners, and we anticipate all of them will be at this fall event along with every major publisher. Key retail members of the EMA Game Retailing Council have clearly stated that they want this type of event, and the Council has worked closely with EMA staff to develop this event to meet the needs of its retail members.”
