Final weekend, quite a lot of gaming followers traveled to Tampa, Florida to attend the Nationwide Gaming Expo. The conference, in its first 12 months, promised encounters with actors resembling the casts of Grand Theft Auto V, Pink Useless Redemption 2, and Mortal Kombat, in addition to the former voices behind Nintendo’s Peach and Bowser, Donkey Kong composer Grant Kirkhope, and much more.
As a substitute, conference attendees have been handled to empty halls, lacking expertise, a no-show photographer, and…camels?
The Nationwide Gaming Expo befell from August 8 via 10 at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa. The official website claims it anticipated round 30,000 individuals in attendance, and promised expertise signings, {photograph} alternatives, distributors, and a cosplay contest. On social media, accounts resembling Celebrity Talent Booking and voice actors like Ned Luke (GTA V) and Rob Wiethoff (Pink Useless Redemption) promoted their appearances at the conference. Wiethoff, who performs John Marston, whipped up a specific fervor with some preliminary teasing of “thrilling information” that received followers excited for some form of franchise information – nevertheless it turned out he was simply speaking a couple of reunion of the Pink Useless Redemption 1 and a pair of casts at the expo.
Nevertheless, that reunion was…disorganized, to say the least. The whole conference was disorganized. Regardless of the Nationwide Gaming Expo’s lofty guarantees, followers paid $40 for a single-day ticket, $90 for the weekend, and confirmed as much as a reasonably barren occasion, as revealed in varied pictures and movies on social media:
So this was my first con and didn’t what to anticipate however this was positively not it. Don’t assist Mike wittenberg, as a result of I used to be at the nationwide gaming expo and it was so awkward and unorganized 😬 pic.twitter.com/vgi2D7DWvD
— Plapapus 🫧 (@plapapus) August 11, 2025
The Nationwide Gaming Expo was a catastrophe. The con ground was empty, perhaps 10 distributors. The one panel that even occurred was such a multitude, Ned Luke took the MCs job trigger he was doing such a nasty job. They screwed over the celebs. And now they’re deleting their social media. @ngeshow pic.twitter.com/3KjP8tBzci
— Dan 🎸✝️ (@Husbeep) August 10, 2025
Accounts on social media lament the dismal quantity and assortment of distributors and cubicles, in addition to an absence of safety. One Reddit comment complained there have been medical insurance and T-Cell distributors and barely any to do with gaming. “It was the equal of strolling right into a Greatest Purchase trying to find a sport, seeing the cabinets full of broccoli, dish cleaning soap, and varied automobile components. Then someplace in the again of the retailer there’s an open field VCR for $600,” said another commenter.
Inexplicably, one attraction that was current at the expo was…a petting zoo, that includes a camel and some different livestock:
The Nationwide gaming expo has gotta be the worst conference ever produced all they received is a camel and no video games pic.twitter.com/WhOExks6Ha
— funkonoki (@funkonoki) August 9, 2025
The conference did not simply look barren. Apparently, loads of expertise that was purported to be there both did not present up in any respect, or confirmed up late or sporadically in a approach that made it difficult for followers to come across the actors they needed to see. A number of attendees who declare they went to the present on Friday mentioned that the Pink Useless Redemption solid wasn’t there in any respect, and have been advised there was some mistake made with their company. Others did report that they received to satisfy the Pink Useless Redemption crew later, however complained that paid photograph alternatives with them and different expertise have been canceled on account of the one photographer allegedly employed by the conference not exhibiting up.
In consequence, attendees have been making their emotions recognized to the Nationwide Gaming Expo organizers in no matter approach they’ll. The conference’s official Instagram page has been deleted and its Facebook event page has been locked, however the Facebook comments on the Florida State Fairgrounds’ publish for the occasion are full of upset attendees. Many posters are issuing warnings about the occasion’s organizer: CEO of NGE Occasion Manufacturing Michael Wittenberg.
Wittenberg, who previously ran the Nationwide Vape Expo earlier than it was shut down throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, began the Nationwide Gaming Expo this 12 months simply months after returning from a year-and-a-half-long stint in a Dominican Republic prison. He was arrested there in 2023 for worldwide narcotics trafficking throughout a networking occasion at a resort, after signing to just accept a “700-pound pallet full of promotional objects, however Dominican officers sniffed out drugs, gummies, and cartridges containing THC, the lively ingredient in marijuana,” in accordance with CBS Information. Wittenberg says the objects in it have been all federally authorized in the United States. “Did I do know for positive that stuff was in the pallet? No. However i believed it was a risk. Was I silly or ignorant? Yeah. I wasn’t responsible. There’s a distinction,” Wittenberg mentioned at the time. “I’ve carried out main conventions with these merchandise for 10 years in main conference facilities throughout the nation.”
The warnings shared by convention-goers, nonetheless, are much less about the THC and extra about Wittenberg’s historical past with conventions. In keeping with commenters, Wittenberg has run threadbare, scammy occasions earlier than, with some individuals even popping in to allege he is didn’t pay employees in the previous. Whereas it is troublesome to discover a helpful report on-line of his previous occasions, these claims are considerably supported by at the very least one evaluate of the Nationwide Vape Expo nonetheless floating round the web. “Throughout the weekend I needed to give you methods of passing the time resembling counting the variety of steps between stands and taking common espresso breaks,” reads the evaluate from a employees reporter at Vapouround from 2017. “By no means in my life have I made a big flat white latte final so lengthy. Usually I’m an espresso form of man however the 5 seconds they take to drink wouldn’t simply minimize it when I’m working down the clock at such a vaping non-event as this.”
A handful of concerned events have already publicly commented on the scenario at Nationwide Gaming Expo. In a press release to IGN, GTA 5’s Michael De Santa actor Ned Luke mentioned merely, “It was a rip-off, the man who ran it was a con artist. He put the con in comic-con.”
Enterprise Authentics, which had marketed “send-ins” at the expo (letting individuals ship in collectibles to be autographed by expertise) has apologized and mentioned it should difficulty refunds to clients, on account of “James Burnes, Michael Antonakos, Grant Kirkhope, and others” not attending. In a Facebook comment, the firm clarified: “this one is just not the company fault, it’s 100% on the conference. I’d fairly not elaborate publicly, however don’t blame the company. They appear to be simply as shocked.”
Roger Clark, the voice of Arthur Morgan, equally acknowledged his absence:
It’s with my deepest apologies that I say I wasn’t in a position to attend the final day of Nationwide Gaming Expo immediately as was introduced. My absence was on account of circumstances exterior of my management. Loopy shit man. Sorry.
— Roger Clark (@rclark98) August 10, 2025
Various people on social media who say they attended the conference are actually making an attempt to get refunds. Some are reporting success disputing the card fees for the tickets or getting refunds via Eventbrite, whereas others say they’re not sure the best way to get a refund in any respect on photograph alternatives that by no means occurred.
IGN has reached out to Superstar Expertise Reserving (which appears to have coordinated a lot of the actors), Michael Wittenberg, the Nationwide Gaming Expo, the Florida State Fairgrounds, Kenny James, Michael Antonakos, Grant Kirkhope, James Burnes, Take-Two and Rockstar (for good measure), and the businesses representing Roger Clark, Rob Wiethoff, and Samantha Kelly for remark.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You will discover her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Obtained a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.