Paris Games Week 2026: Over 160,000 Visitors, 100 Playable PS5 and Switch 2 Games, and Official 2027 Dates
The doors of Paris Expo Porte de Versailles closed this Sunday, October 25, on the 15th anniversary edition of Paris Games Week. Branded the "Playground Edition" for 2026, France's flagship video game trade show welcomed more than 160,000 visitors across four days.
According to the official post-event report published by the SELL (France's Union of Leisure Software Publishers), attendance remained rock-solid compared to the 161,000 attendees recorded in 2025. A total of 174 exhibitors and partners filled the exhibition halls during the autumn break, while a new gamified quest system inside the official mobile app engaged over 20,000 active participants out of 24,000 downloads.
"In a challenging period for our industry, this enthusiasm reminds us that the appetite for video games remains as strong as ever in France."
Nicolas Vignolles, Managing Director of SELL
Over 100 Playable Games and 20 Hands-On Previews on the Show Floor
For its 15th edition, organizers focused heavily on hands-on kiosks, offering more than 100 playable titles including around twenty exclusives and French premieres. Huge lines quickly formed around the multiplayer stations for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, right as competitive players began grinding through all Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 Prestige icons and level 1,000 rewards.
Action-RPG fans also lined up at Capcom's booth to experience Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance with series producers in attendance, while Bandai Namco delivered a major hands-on preview of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 ahead of its 2027 launch window. Over at SEGA and Ubisoft, demos for Alien: Isolation 2 and Rayman Legends Retold stood out among the most crowded kiosks of the weekend.
250,000 Online Viewers for Inoxtag and Packed Esports Arenas
Evening live shows and esports finals played a massive role in driving energy both inside the venue and online. On Saturday, October 24, French creator Inoxtag hosted the Fortnite "Back to OG" charity showdown at the Dôme de Paris in front of 2,500 live fans, peaking at 250,000 concurrent viewers online with a €100,000 prize pool split between a charity and a lucky viewer.
Meanwhile, the main esports stages stayed packed from Thursday's EMEA Masters Summer 2026 grand final on League of Legends through the weekend's Bigg Series finals on Brawl Stars. Tactical shooter fans also filled the stands for the Project Blender 2026 Valorant tournament, underscoring how central live competitive events have become to the show's DNA.
PGW Business Jumps 25% as Organizers Lock In October 2027 Dates
Behind the scenes, the B2B wing PGW Business by CMS posted impressive growth despite broader economic headwinds across the global development sector. The professional area welcomed 415 industry attendees (a 25% increase over 2025), facilitating nearly 450 business meetings and 14 hours of conferences featuring more than 30 speakers discussing studio financing, IP valuation, and new business models.
| Key Metric (PGW 2026) | Official SELL Report |
|---|---|
| Public Attendance (October 22 to 25) | Over 160,000 visitors |
| Exhibitors and Show Floor Lineup | 174 exhibitors, 100+ playable games (20 previews) |
| Fortnite "Back to OG" Show (Inoxtag) | 250,000 online viewers (2,500 live at Dôme de Paris) |
| PGW Business by CMS (B2B) | 415 professionals (+25%), 450 meetings, 14h of talks |
| Next Edition (Paris Games Week 2027) | October 28 to 31, 2027 at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles |
My Perspective: Turning the Show Floor Into a Giant Hands-On Playground Works
Walking through convention halls over the past few years, I often felt that traditional trade shows were struggling to redefine their purpose in an era where major publishers save their biggest world premieres for digital livestreams. With this "Playground Edition," I love how Paris Games Week leaned completely into what players actually travel for: grabbing a controller across more than a hundred kiosks and sharing live crowd energy that no livestream can replicate.
Getting to test Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance or Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 months ahead of release while moving between a packed European esports final and intergenerational initiatives like Silver Geek gives the event a genuine warmth. Organizers have already locked in the calendar for next year, confirming that Paris Games Week will return from October 28 to 31, 2027 at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles.
Based on the outskirts of New York City, Chaya 'Chayane' spent five years studying software engineering in Montreal before returning to her home state. A Full-Stack developer and Deep Learning AI architecture researcher, she explores neural networks and algorithmic optimization while engineering data pipelines for Retrocharting and Gamescharting alongside Grimtag. A gamer for over 20 years and an avid collector of Nintendo history and The Legend of Zelda, she explored World of Warcraft's Azeroth before bringing her deep technical background to video game analysis.
