GTA actor says disastrous Florida Game Conference “puts scammers in comics”

Last weekend, many game fans headed to Tampa, Florida for the National Game Expo. The convention promised to meet with actors in the first year, such as the Big Theft Automatic V, Red Death Redemption 2 and Mortal Kombat actors, and the front voice behind Nintendo's Peach and Bowser, Donkey Kong Kong Composer Grant Kirkhope.

Instead, conference attendees were seen as empty halls, missing talent, an unshowed photographer and… camels?

The National Games Fair takes place from August 8 to 10 at the Florida Fair Venue in Tampa. this Official website It claims it expects about 30,000 people to attend and promises talent signatures, photo opportunities, suppliers and role-playing competitions. On social media, e.g. Celebrity can reserve Voice actors such as Ned Luke (GTA V) and Rob Wiethoff (Red Death Redemption) facilitated their appearance at the convention. Wiethoff, who plays John Marston Whip a specific passion There was some teasing about “exciting news” initially, which made fans excited about some kind of franchise news – but it turned out that he was just talking about the cast reunion of Red Death 1 and 2 held at the fair.

But, to say the least, that party was…chaotic. The whole convention is in chaos. Despite the lofty commitment of the National Games Fair, fans paid $40 for single-day tickets and $90 for weekends, and revealed a very barren activity in various photos and videos on social media:

So this is my first scam and nothing is expected, but it definitely isn't. Mike Wittenberg is not supported because I was at the National Games Fair pic.twitter.com/VGI2D7DWVD

– plapapus🫧 (@plapapus) August 11, 2025

The National Games Expo was a disaster. The scam is empty, maybe 10 vendors. The only group member that happened was a mess, and Ned Luke took on MCS jobs because he didn't do well. They screwed up celebrities. Now, they are deleting social media. @ngleeshow pic.twitter.com/3kjp8tbzci

– and 🎸✝️ (@husbeep) August 10, 2025

Accounts on social media lament the dismal number and classification of vendors and stalls, and the lack of security. A red comment Complaints about having health insurance and T-Mobile suppliers, almost related to gaming. “It's the equivalent of walking into Best Buy to find the game and seeing shelves filled with broccoli, dishwashing fluid and various car parts. Then there's an open box VCR somewhere behind the store for $600,” Another commenter said.

Inexplicably, an attraction Once was Attendance at the fair is…a pet zoo with camels and a few other farm animals:

The National Games Fair has to be the worst convention ever, they get the camels, no games pic.twitter.com/whoexks6ha

– Funkonoki (@funkonoki) August 9, 2025

The conference not only looked barren. Obviously, many talents that shouldn't have appeared, or at all, or appear in sporadic ways to get fans into the challenge of the actors they want to see. Several attendees who claimed they were on the show on Friday said the Red Death Redemption actors didn’t exist at all and were told that they had made some mistakes with their agents. Others did report that they had to meet with Red Death Redemption personnel later, but the opportunity to pay for photos with them was cancelled because they were allegedly a photographer not seen by a convention.

As a result, attendees have been keeping the National Game Expo organizers aware of their feelings in any way. The conference Official Instagram page has been deleted and Facebook activity page locked,but Facebook Comments Posts for the event were filled with attendees during the Florida State competition. Many posters have issued warnings about the organizers of the event: Michael Wittenberg, CEO of NGE Event Production.

Wittenberg Return from a prison in the Dominican Republic for a year and a half. He was arrested there for international narcotic trafficking at a network event at the resort in 2023 and signed a “700-pound pallet filled with promotional products, but Dominican officials sniffed pills, adhesives and cartridges containing THC, which contained active ingredients for marijuana.” Wittenberg said that the items were federally legal in the United States. “Is the thing I'm sure is in the pallet? No. I think it's possible. Am I stupid or ignorant? Yes. I don't have any introspection. There's a difference.” “I've been doing a 10-year reconsideration on these products at major convention centers across the country.”

However, the warnings of the congress participants were not on THC, but on Wittenberg's history. According to commentators, Wittenberg had previously had stimulating incidents, and some even suddenly emerged and accused him of failing to pay workers in the past. Although it is difficult to find useful records of his past events online, some of these claims are somewhat support There is at least one review about the National Vape Fair which is still around the internet. “During the weekend I had to come up with ways of passing the time such as counting the number of steps between stands and taking regular coffee breaks,” reads the review from a staff reporter at Vapourround from 2017. “Never in my life have I made a large flat white latte last so long. Normally I am an espresso kind of guy but the five seconds they take to drink would not just cut it when I am running down the clock at such a vaping non-event as this.”

A few participating parties have publicly commented on the situation of the National Games Expo. “It's a scam, and the running guy is a scam. He puts the scam in the comics,” GTA 5's actor Ned Luke said in a statement to IGN.

Venture Authentics apologized for promoting “send” at the expo (to have people send collections signed by talent) and said it would refund customers because “James Burnes, Michael Antonakos, Grant Kirkhope, Grant Kirkhope and others were not on the way. Facebook CommentsThe company clarified: “It's not the guest's fault, it's 100% at the conference. I'd rather not make any details publicly, but not blame the guests. They seemed shocked.”

Arthur Morgan's voice Roger Clark also acknowledged his absence:

It was my deepest apology, I said I could not participate in the last day of the National Games Fair announced today. My absence was due to situations beyond my control. Crazy people. sorry.

— Roger Clark (@rclark98) August 10, 2025

Many people on social media say they attended the conference and are now working to get a refund. Some reported successful disputes about card fees for tickets or getting refunds through EventBrite, while others said they were unsure how to get refunds on photo opportunities that never happened.

IGN has booked with celebrity talent (which seems to have coordinated many actors), Michael Wittenberg, National Games Fair, Florida State Fairgrounds, Kenny James, Michael Antonakos, Grant Kirkhope, Grant Kirkhope, James Burnes, take-take-two and rockstar (good measures), as well as institutions representing Roger clark Clark Clark, RobWieth, Rob Wiethaf and Saman.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior journalist at IGN. You can find her post on bluesky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Is there a story tip? Send it to [email protected].