Gen Con 2021 Bounces Back From COVID-19 Lockdowns With An In-Person Convention

Depending on which part of the world you reside in, we’ve recently hit our one-year anniversary with our dear friend, COVID-19. With vaccines rolling out all over the world, it could be time for some normalcy to return.

Gen Con is excited to come back, planning their next convention to happen in Indianapolis in September 2021. It was originally scheduled for early August but has been pushed to mid-September.

Gen Con is United States’ biggest and longest-running tabletop gaming convention, garnering about 70,000 attendees back in 2019. But of course, the world is not ready for that much human contact yet, so this year’s convention attendance will be drastically decreased.

With only a limited amount of attendees, “priority for attendance will be given first to attendees who donated or rolled over their 2020 badge,”, quoting Gen Con’s FAQ page. Though there will also be a live stream available so gamers from all over the world are able to join the party.

The event’s new dates for Gen Con will fall on 16-19 September, where it will be held at Indianapolis Convention Centre, the home of Gen Con. Even though there has been a delay, Gen Con is confident that they will be able to pull off the event, but they also know that if the situation change, the plans will have to follow suit.

According to Peter Adkison, Co-owner of Gen Con, “Based on guidance from CDC, recent announcements by the federal government, and the projections of public-health experts, we believe there is a significant cause for optimism for a mid-September convention to be held with reduced attendance and some smart modifications.”. “If that changes and the experts tell us we need to shift course, then the plan will change.”

This isn’t just good news for gamers, it’s good news for retailers too. Game stores are allowed to join the convention with related pop-up events. In the past, Gen Con’s vendors were the place to announce and release new games. This is great if you want to snag the first print of a title.

Adkison says that badges will be on sale soon. To keep up with any Gen Con news, you can join their newsletter. We’re excited for life to return back to pre-covid, but we hope that the convention hosts will be cautious to avoid another breakout.