ICE Prepares for its Sophomore Year in Barcelona

Few would disagree that ICE enjoyed a successful debut in Barcelona in 2025, but does that ramp up the pressure on the team to make sure the 2026 edition beats year one?

In a word, yes! But in truth, every year there is always the same pressure to continue to deliver a world-leading show and experience for the industry. It’s not a commitment we take lightly.

We hold ourselves to a really high standard internally. ICE really is the industry’s show, and it’s our responsibility to look after it, continue to listen to feedback and improve every new edition.

I think it’s fair to say the move came with loads of new challenges, and while we have an extremely talented and committed team, and we will always do our absolute best to foresee how things will run, there are always things to learn and opportunities—ways to improve.

At the end of the day, it’s our role to provide the connections, insight and intelligence to help fuel the growth of the gaming industry and to ensure people have a productive and enjoyable show.

Equally, we are obsessed with feedback, and we like to ask a lot of questions of the industry. That helps us learn and grow and do better each year. So with the additional learnings and insight, hopefully a lot of this momentum will help us deliver even more for 2026. We certainly have a lot planned.

The show’s footprint expands this year, with another hall opening. How do you manage growth of a show the size of ICE?

Frost: This is something that we are pretty scientific about. The main role of my team is to ensure that we are attracting the right visitor audience for our customers, and while the temptation is always to reflect the growth of the industry, it requires really careful management to make sure that we are connecting the right people and adding real value, and keep the right product mix.

It’s our job to listen to the needs of our customers and the audience in equal measure. We ask and we listen, and we use this information to build our strategy. If there is a new market focus, then we will act accordingly. And equally, if there is a new requirement of a vertical that needs to be represented, then that too gets addressed.

And what new features can visitors expect in 2026?

This year is very much about delivering on the growth potential of the show. ICE has long been seen as the central place where the industry and ecosystem come together. Last year, we planted some really good seeds, and this year we have to deliver on that promise.

That’s actually what drove this year’s creative. As a start, we have grown to meet the needs of the industry. There is a whole new hall for iGaming, to cater for the growing need in the market. We are also moving iGB Affiliate to the other end of the campus, in halls 8.0 and 8.1, to cater to more brands entering the affiliate space—another massive success from last year’s show.

We have put a new focus on technology this year and have rebranded the center stage to the Enterprise Stage, where we will be hosting our free-to-attend show floor content with speakers from tech giants like Microsoft and Huawei.

We have kept a lot of the aspects that were popular from last year but enhanced those that could be improved. We have some really exciting partnerships with some impressive technology brands, like Microsoft with the Innovator Challenge. And we are also creating a Lifestyle Lounge with McLaren that will take pride of place in the show spine.

We have also taken a second outdoor space, so we now have La Avenida 1 and 2 providing even more relaxed alfresco experiences and networking opportunities.

How are the show’s perennial features such as the World Gaming Forum, Sustainable Gambling Zone and Esports Arena evolving?

This is probably one of the more critical areas of the show for us. We know that the industry is at a pretty crucial moment. With the threat of illegal markets poised to cause significant damage to the industry and players, it’s more important than ever to work together to ensure safe, sustainable and fair regulation, and that is reflected in the enhanced platform of the World Gaming Forum. We have a whole new program devoted to attracting the regulatory community to give them the platform to talk about this vital issue.We will also be enforcing “Chatham House rules” as part of day one and the World Regulatory Briefing, so we can encourage truly meaningful and open discussion. Equally, we are going to be attracting even more of the regulatory community to the show this year to join the discussion.

We have a new conference track with the Sports Leaders Conference, as well as some exciting new roundtables on the biggest issues in gaming.

The Sustainable Gambling Zone has grown again, taking greater pride of place ensuring that player protection and safety are at the heart of the show. This has been such a success story from its launch in 2018.

This year the Esport Arena has been moved to a new enhanced location, and we will be hosting a World Cup FIFA tournament with some amazing esports athletes taking part.

With a show as big as ICE, there’s always so much going on. How are you helping people curate their agendas to make sure they can get the maximum out of the show?

We have some really exciting tools that we have been refining and improving. We of course have the website (icegaming.com) for all information, but we also have the app to help everyone research and connect with the people they most want to meet.

We launched an AI assistant last year, and this is now back new and improved. We are calling it Chip, and it’s the essential tour guide and information center for anything going on throughout the week. You can literally ask it anything about the show, and it can make suggestions based on what you are interested in, from content to show floor to exhibitors and products on offer. It’s like having a researcher and a PA on your phone. You can access this through a simple WhatsApp channel on the website and on the app.

We’ve seen some hints that registration is off to a great start. What sort of volume of visitors are you expecting?

Yes, indeed—we had our biggest launch day ever with over 1,000 registrations. It really was amazing. This year we are expecting more than 65,000 attendees to World Gaming Week with ICE and iGB Affiliate.

The industry events calendar also seems to get bigger every year, but in spite of this ICE remains a must-attend. What keeps it on top of the pile?

We have a clear mission and purpose that drives us. Our job is to provide the industry with the connections, insight and intelligence that fuel the growth of the modern global gaming industry, and we do this so together we can continue to build an industry we can all be proud of.

This has kept us super-focused on what’s good for the industry we serve. Our scale really helps, as there is no other event that brings everyone together in the same way. Equally, ICE plays a critical role for the launch of new products and technological innovation. But really, this is the industry’s show. Everyone has such an important role in the show’s ongoing health and success.

Finally, we’re a year on from the move. Do you feel 2025, and preparations for 2026, vindicate that decision to move from London to Barcelona?

That really is something that you will need to ask the industry, but unilaterally, everyone I have spoken to certainly says that is the case. Even some of those who had reservations seem to have embraced the move. I really can’t think of a better location for World Gaming Week with ICE and iGB Affiliate 2026.