Gamescom

• 1. Introduction

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  Gamescom fills the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany with more than a third of a million visitors each August. In 2018, 370,000 people walked its halls and 1,037 exhibitors from 56 countries set up stands. That makes Gamescom the world's largest gaming event, a title it did not hold from the very beginning and had to fight to earn.

  Where did this convention come from, and why Cologne rather than the German city that had been hosting the industry's flagship event for years? What does it take to dethrone an established trade show, and who decides what gets announced to the world on the opening night? Those are the questions this documentary will answer.

• 2. The Leipzig Standoff

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  Before Gamescom existed, the German industry gathered in Leipzig. The Federal Association of Interactive Entertainment Software, known as the BIU, had hosted the Games Convention there from 2002 to 2008, and for a time it was briefly the largest games trade show in the world.

  Leipzig's problem was geography. Limited transport links and a shortage of hotel accommodation made the city increasingly unsuitable for an event of that size. The BIU and Koelnmesse struck an agreement in 2008 to create a new event in Cologne, starting in 2009. Leipzig's trade fair organisation pushed back immediately, announcing it would keep running Games Convention without the BIU.

  The dispute ran for five months. Leipzig refused to let the Cologne event use the name "Games Convention", so the BIU coined "GamesCom" instead. Both shows were scheduled for the same weekend and each was positioning itself as the authoritative German trade fair. In the end the two sides reached a deal involving Gamescom and GDC, and Leipzig announced it would cancel Games Convention and replace it with an online-only event focused on mobile and casual gaming. Games Convention Online ran briefly before folding after 2010.

• 3. First Steps in Cologne

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  Gamescom first opened its doors in August 2009 and, by the account of the sources, was extremely successful. That inaugural edition ran 19-the 23rd of August and drew 245,000 visitors.

  The Sony announcements at that first show gave a sense of the stage Cologne now commanded. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe used the event to reveal the PlayStation 3 Slim, a smaller and lighter model of the console, and gave it a release date of the 1st of September 2009. Firmware 3.0 for the PlayStation 3 was announced alongside it. Sony also confirmed that a European Video Store would launch in November 2009 and that smaller games, under 100 megabytes and marketed as "minis", would arrive on the PlayStation Portable. Microsoft Game Studios announced Fable III at the same show, with a release window of 2010.

  Electronic Arts made a point of streaming its press conference live on EA.com. Sony showed its own conference through PlayStation Home, and then made it available for download on the PlayStation Store. Most other press conferences were not streamed, though gaming websites offered live text coverage.

• 4. Growth and Records

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  Attendance climbed steadily through the following years. The 2010 show brought 254,000 visitors, 2011 and 2012 each drew 275,000, then 2013 jumped to 340,000. By 2015 and 2016 the number stabilised at 345,000 before the 2018 edition peaked at 370,000.

  The 2011 show added a milestone beyond visitor counts. That year, the first Dota 2 International championship took place at Gamescom. The tournament carried the biggest prize pool of any esports event at the time, a moment that signalled Cologne was not purely a stage for publishers showing off retail releases.

  At the 2013 show, the World Championship Series Global Finals for StarCraft II ran with a prize pool of $150,000. Three League of Legends tournaments also took place that year, including the International Wildcard Tournament and the European LCS Playoffs.

  The 2017 edition added a different kind of distinction. German Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the show, the first time a sitting Chancellor had ever opened a Gamescom. That same year BMW and Electronic Arts used the event to unveil the newest generation BMW M5, tying the car's debut to the launch of Need for Speed Payback.

• 5. Opening Night Live

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  Geoff Keighley began hosting Opening Night Live in 2019, a streamed show on the evening before the public halls opened. The first ONL broadcast went out on the 19th of August 2019 at 8:00pm Central European Summer Time.

  Keighley drew direct inspiration from his experience running The Game Awards, which had evolved into a platform for new game announcements rather than just a ceremony. He wanted the same energy at the front of Gamescom. Opening Night Live has since served as a recurring platform for trailer launches and major announcements from studios across the industry.

  The BIU administered Gamescom from its founding until 2018, when it merged with the industry organisation GAME. Their successor, the game - The German Games Industry Association, took over the same administrative role and has continued it since.

• 6. The COVID Pivot and a New Crown

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  Gamescom 2020 was scheduled for 25-the 29th of August in Cologne. Germany's response to the COVID-19 pandemic banned all public events through August 2020, so organisers moved portions of the show online. Opening Night Live ran on the 27th of August, followed by online developer interviews and events through the 30th.

  The 2021 event was a hybrid: some live elements alongside online programming, with Opening Night Live again on the 25th of August. The 2022 show returned to an in-person format, though attendance at 265,000 was notably lower than the pre-pandemic peak.

  The collapse of E3 during the pandemic years left Gamescom as the largest event of its kind in the world. The 2023 show drew 320,000 visitors and ran 23-the 27th of August. The Gamescom footprint also spread beyond Europe: Gamescom Latam, first held in Brazil in 2024, became the largest gaming event in the Americas.

• 7. The Shape of the Show

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  Gamescom runs two distinct zones side by side. The public sections include an entertainment area, an event arena, a merchandise area, an indie area, a cosplay village, a retro and family area, an artist area, a cards and boards area, a signing area, and a campus area. These are open to general visitors.

  A separate business area is closed to the public and reserved for professional visitors: publishers, journalists, and developers. Alongside the main event, the Devcom conference takes place at the same venue in the days just before Gamescom opens, dedicated specifically to the game development sector.

  The hardware announcements at Gamescom have at times matched the software reveals in significance. Nvidia chose the Palladium Cologne to unveil the GeForce RTX 20 Series on the 20th of August 2018, the day before that year's public halls opened. That product launch, made at a gaming convention rather than a tech conference, showed how the audience Gamescom assembles each August extends well beyond players browsing the latest titles.