Gamescom

Gamescom is a trade fair for video games held annually at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany. Gamescom is the world's largest gaming event, with 370,000 visitors and 1,037 exhibitors from 56 countries attending the event in 2018. The event is used by many video game developers to exhibit upcoming games and game-related hardware.

• The "gamescom - Opening Night Live" (ONL) show takes place every year on the evening before the opening. The show presents the latest trailers and announcements from the international games industry and is hosted by Geoff Keighley.

Alongside the public areas, there is also a closed area for professional visitors, such as publishers, journalists and developers.

Shortly before Gamescom, the associated conference Devcom takes place at the same area and is specifically for the game development sector.

History

The Federal Association of Interactive Entertainment Software had previously hosted the Games Convention in Leipzig from 2002 to 2008, which was briefly the largest games trade show in the world. However, Leipzig was becoming unsuitable for such a large event owing to limited transport links and hotel accommodation. The BIU and Koelnmesse announced a new event circuit in 2008, to be held in Cologne beginning in 2009. The Leipzig Trade Fair opposed the move and intended to continue Games Convention without the BIU, which led to a five-month "standoff" between the two groups. As Leipzig did not allow the Cologne event to be called "Games Convention", the BIU instead adopted "GamesCom". The two events were due to take part on the same weekend, and were each competing to be seen as the "authoritative" German trade fair for the industry. In the end, after a deal between Gamescom and GDC, Leipzig announced that Games Convention would be cancelled, and replaced by an online only event that focused on mobile and casual gaming. Gamescom was first held in August 2009, and was extremely successful, while Games Convention Online was discontinued after 2010.

The BIU continued to support and administer the event until 2018, when it merged with the industry body GAME. Their successor organisation the has continued in the same role. Geoff Keighley began hosting Opening Night Live from 2019, a streamed event at the beginning of the show. Opening Night Live has served as a platform for many trailer launches and game announcements.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused the discontinuation of E3, Gamescom has been the largest event of its kind. Gamescom Latam, first held in Brazil in 2024, is also the largest event in the Americas.

Areas

The following exhibition areas are located on the site:

Events

2009

Gamescom 2009 was held 19–23 August. 245,000 people attended that year's visit.

Exhibitors

Notable press conferences

Wednesday, 18 August:

• Electronic Arts
• Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Thursday, 19 August:

• Microsoft Game Studios
• Konami
• Namco Bandai Games

Notable announcements

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced the PlayStation 3 Slim, a smaller and lighter model of the console and a release date of 1 September 2009. Firmware 3.0 for the PlayStation 3 was also announced, adding new features to the PlayStation Network. Sony announced that the European Video Store would launch in November 2009. Sony also announced that the PlayStation Portable would get smaller games (under 100mb) in the form of 'minis' and that comics would also be available to download in December 2009. A "free game" registration promotion was announced for the PSP Go.

Microsoft Game Studios announced Fable III, along with a release date of 2010. Also, Microsoft announced their intention to release Fable II on the Xbox Live Marketplace in five episodes, the first of which would be free to download.

Media coverage

While most press conferences were not available for live streaming, Electronic Arts streamed its press conference on EA.com. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe also showcased its press conference on its online community-based service PlayStation Home shortly afterwards. Sony also made its press conference available for download on the PlayStation Store. Various gaming websites offered live-blogging of the respective press conferences.

2010

Gamescom 2010 was held 18–22 August. 254,000 people attended that year's visit.

Exhibitors

Notable announcements

The two main announcements this Gamescom came from Insomniac Games, who announced two sequels from two of their franchises: Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, by revealing some gameplay from the game, and Resistance 3, via a live action teaser trailer. These games will be exclusive to the PlayStation 3. All 4 One has a set release date as late 2011, while Resistance 3 did not have a release date.

2011

Gamescom 2011 was held 17–21 August. 275,000 people attended that year's visit.

Exhibitors

Notable events

• The first Dota 2 International championship took place. The tournament had the biggest prize pool of any e-sports tournament at the time.

2012

Gamescom 2012 was held 15–19 August. 275,000 people attended that year's visit.

Exhibitors

2013

Gamescom 2013 was held 21–25 August. 340,000 people attended that year's visit.

Exhibitors

Notable events

• The World Championship Series 2013 Season 2 Global Finals, a StarCraft II tournament with a $150,000 prizepool, were held during the event.
• Three League of Legends Tournaments were held during the event:
  • International Wildcard Tournament
  • Season 4 Spring Promotion Qualifier
  • European LCS Playoffs

2014

Gamescom 2014 was held 13–17 August. 335,000 people attended that year's visit.

Notable events

• The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major ESL One Cologne 2014 was held at Gamescom

Exhibitors

2015

Gamescom 2015 was held 5–9 August. 345,000 people attended that year's visit.

Exhibitors

2016

Gamescom 2016 was held 17–21 August. 345,000 people attended that year's visit.

Exhibitors

2017

Gamescom 2017 was held 22–26 August. 355,000 people attended that year's visit.

Notable events

• German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the event, which marked the first time in history that a Gamescom was opened by a sitting Chancellor.
• BMW and Electronic Arts unveiled the newest generation BMW M5 to promote the launch of Need for Speed Payback.

Exhibitors

2018

Gamescom 2018 was held 21–25 August. 370,000 people attended that year's visit.

Notable events

• Nvidia announced the GeForce RTX 20 Series at the Palladium Cologne on 20 August 2018.

Exhibitors

2019

Gamescom 2019 was held 20–24 August. Geoff Keighley has announced that he will help launch a dedicated video game announcement show prior to Gamescom, called "Gamescom: Opening Night Live". Inspired by the response to The Game Awards presentation that includes several new game announcements, Keighley wanted to do the same for Gamescom. The event was streamed on 19 August at 8:00pm (CEST).

Exhibitors

2020

Gamescom 2020 was scheduled to be held from 25 to 29 August in Cologne. However, Germany announced that following lifting of lockdowns in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, all public events through August 2020 were banned. Gamescom organizers announced they would move some portions of the planned show online. Organizers confirmed plans for the online Opening Night Live to start on 27 August, with each following day through 30 August featuring a schedule of online developer interviews and events and a wrap-up show.

Exhibitors

2021

Gamescom 2021 was held 25–27 August 2021. The event was preceded by Opening Night Live with Geoff Keighley on 25 August. Gamescom 2021 was a hybrid exhibition experience with online and live events.

Exhibitors

2022

Gamescom 2022 was held 24–28 August 2022. The event was both in-person and online. 265,000 people attended that year's visit.

Exhibitors

2023

Gamescom 2023 was held 23–27 August 2023. 320,000 people attended that year's visit. The opening night received media attention after one attendee rushed on the stage and interrupting presenter of the show Geoff Keighley, saying that "Bill Clinton wants to play GTA VI". The incident occurred 8 months after a similar incident at The Game Awards 2022, in which Keighley also hosted. The same attendee also interrupted several live shows in Germany, asking about the game.

Exhibitors

2024

Gamescom 2024 was held 20–24 August 2024. The event attracted more than 335,000 visitors and 1,400 exhibitors on that year.

Exhibitors

2025

Gamescom 2025 was held 20–24 August 2025. The event attracted more than 357,000 visitors and 1,500 exhibitors that year.

Exhibitors

Game Developers Conference Europe

From 2009 to 2016, the Game Developers Conference Europe (GDC Europe), a European spinoff of the Game Developers Conference, has been held in conjunction with the Gamescom. The Conference took place at the Cologne Congress Centre East.

Offshoots

An offshoot of the trade fair has been established for the Asian region in 2021 under the name Gamescom Asia and takes place in Singapore. In 2025 Gamescom Asia joins forces with Thailand Game Show and takes place in Bangkok. In 2023, Koelnmesse closed an agreement with BIG Festival and Omelete Company for a new offshoot under the name Gamescom Latam, which takes place in Brazil.

References

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