What does Gamescom look like in a post-E3 world?

Gamescom is extra than simply a week in Cologne.

The world’s largest video games present has expanded dramatically in current years with the launch of satellite tv for pc occasions in different markets; first with Gamescom Asia in Singapore, which debuted in 2021, and this yr heading to Brazil with the primary Gamescom Latam.

The Cologne present already prided itself on being a world occasion, attracting firms and guests from all around the world and representing completely different nations with the nation pavilions discovered in the enterprise halls. However co-organiser Felix Falk, additionally managing director of German video games commerce affiliation Recreation, says the bodily growth into different territories demonstrates the worldwide position Gamescom goals to play in the video games business.

“We want to be the most relevant show for the industry,” he says. “We need to sustain with the developments and dynamics of the business as a present to construct a stage and have essentially the most thrilling and most necessary recreation pageant worldwide, connecting the business and the neighborhood in actual life and in addition on a hybrid foundation.

“The two satellites means that we’re not only in one spot in the world. If you are in South America or Asia and you can’t come to Gamescom, Gamescom will be close to you in the future.”

“The beauty of Gamescom is that it’s not only Opening Night Live, a two-hour showcase, and that’s it. There’s the connection to the real festival and a lot of potential still to be found”

Felix Falk, Gamescom

Christoph Werner, senior vp of Gamescom’s organiser and venue Koelnmesse, provides that the success of those satellites is already boosting worldwide participation on the Cologne present. The variety of nation pavilions at this yr’s present has seen double digit progress, with 43 such cubicles from 33 international locations.

With two further territories underneath its belt, the Gamescom organisers are actually targeted on growing these reveals slightly than looking for their subsequent growth. Whereas Falk says they continue to be open to the chance, any further occasion “has to be a unique and perfect match in order to fulfil the promises Gamescom gives if you open up something new.”

He factors to the suggestions he skilled whereas visiting Gamescom Latam in June. The 2 commonest issues he heard was that it was significantly greater than the BIG Pageant that had come earlier than it, and that it felt very a lot like Gamescom, albeit smaller.

“Those two things are the promises and they are really not easy to fulfil. You need perfect timing, perfect partner set up. It just needs to be at the right time, the right space and we are happy that we were able to do this in Latam and in Asia. But you can’t open up something every year somewhere and expect a perfect match like this.”

In fact, there’s a gap in the US now that E3 is not any extra, though Falk responds that these excellent matches are “hard to find in LA.” Nonetheless, with the longest operating and highest profile video games commerce present now gone, is there a possibility for Gamescom to fill the void, both in Cologne or by coming to the US?

“So many people from the US and from all over the world are coming to Gamescom now in August, but also to Gamescom Latam and to Gamescom Asia,” says Falk. “So from our perspective, everything is already happening at Gamescom. There’s nothing missing right now. If the industry also asks us to engage with [the US] even more in the future… well, that’s a question I leave to the future.”

The dying of E3 is an fascinating lens by way of which we are able to look on the success of Gamescom. A key issue in its demise was the declining assist from main publishers and platform holders. PlayStation, Digital Arts, Activision and others deserted the present years in the past, and this yr’s efforts to revive the occasion failed in no small half as a result of the business assist did not materialise — significantly from key gamers like Sony and Nintendo.

Neither platform holder is attending Gamescom 2024, and but the organisers introduced yesterday that they’ve secured a document variety of exhibitors — greater than 1,400 firms — predict extra attendees than in 2023. Falk even confirms that the absence of PlayStation, Nintendo and EA in sure earlier years “had no real effect on the community,” so how is Gamescom in a position to climate the type of setbacks that killed E3?

For Falk, it is the community-driven focus of Gamescom and the vary of firms on supply: “It is so broad. With 1,000 exhibitors, you discover one thing you like. You possibly can spend three days on the present and nonetheless discover one thing new. Many individuals like to go to the indie space, for instance, which will get greater and greater yearly — you will discover loads of video games in every single place. So this pageant strategy is such a good factor that we do not have a dependence on particular manufacturers.

“Saying this, of course — especially as an association — we want to build a stage for all the members. So it’s great that EA is with Gamescom this year, that Nintendo was at Gamescom again last year, and this year Nintendo was at Gamescom Latam.”

One other problem occasions of this sort face is a lack of recreation code. Lately, firms have been unable to exhibit on the reveals they’ve often supported in the previous as a result of they’re unable to ship the demo code wanted to present gamers hands-on expertise with upcoming titles. Equally, the discharge slate is shifting, with fewer main releases every year in comparison with when Gamescom first started.

Falk notes that it will “never be like it was before” — one thing the Gamescom crew realized in a short time, particularly in the course of the COVID years.

“The whole two digital years for Gamescom made us much more agile, which I think is a part of the success, because we have to adjust faster to what the industry needs and also to who the industry is.”

Werner provides that turning into a hybrid present has additionally helped Gamescom evolve, and this started lengthy earlier than the pandemic with the introduction of Opening Evening Reside, the livestreamed showcase hosted by Geoff Keighley. That is additionally anticipated to develop this yr, with capability for double the variety of in-person attendees in addition to the folks tuning in on-line world wide.

Falk remembers a part of the motivation behind this pillar of Gamescom was the notion that “E3 is about new announcements and announcement shows, and Gamescom is about playing demos.” This inspired the Koelnmesse crew to create one thing that mixed the on-stage showcases of E3 with the on-site exhibition they had been already offering.

“General interest media or politicians don’t go to events where only one company or one platform or something attends,” he says. “It is all about this [wider] business showcase. [We can also] give one thing again to these firms and companions who’re current and actually huge on the ground, giving them a area for digital attain that we are able to create with Opening Evening Reside. So I believe it connects very well and it is a nice partnership with Geoff.

“The beauty of Gamescom is that it’s not only Opening Night Live, a two-hour showcase, and that’s it. There’s the connection to the real festival and I think there’s a lot of potential still to be found by us and partners.”

“There’s not a business case behind [Epix and trading cards] but I think it’s a very nice way to interact with our community”

Christoph Werner, Koelnmesse

Koelnmesse can also be continuously discovering new methods to increase the choices on the present ground itself. Additions this yr embrace an artists’ space, the place artists can draw friends in the type of in style video video games, in addition to extra tabletop and buying and selling card video games, plus a new social stage in Corridor 11. The latter will focus solely on neighborhood actions — music performances, content material creator classes, and so forth — which speaks to Gamescom’s efforts to assist influencers get extra out of the present.

“We noticed we had some really big creators, just walking in the halls so we created this stage to make them visible, but also in a curated context,” he mentioned.

In the meantime, Werner factors to the web expertise for individuals who aren’t in a position to make it to Cologne. A primary instance of that is Gamescom Epix, a collection of ‘quests’ accessible by way of the occasion’s web site. Quests can vary from taking quizzes arrange by exhibitors to participating with sure video games (for instance, reaching Degree 11 in Niantic and Capcom’s Monster Hunter Now). Finishing quests will earn rewards akin to vouchers, reductions, and even recreation demos. Final yr, 375,000 quests had been accomplished and the crew is hoping for related success this yr.

The goal of all that is to ‘gamify’ the watch for Gamescom, in addition to the week itself. Equally the brand new digital buying and selling card recreation permits customers to gather parts of Gamescom, which additionally boosts consciousness of what the present has to supply.

“There’s not a business case behind this right now,” Werner admits, “but I think it’s a very nice way to interact with our community.”

And in the end this comes all the way down to that core message of Gamescom being extra than simply a week in Cologne. Falk factors to the variety of exhibitors who’re taking a extra holistic strategy to the present, considering past what’s on their sales space but in addition what they’ll do on-line and in the run-up to the occasion.

“It’s another part of creating a stage for the companies,” he says. “They can tease the games they will show at Gamescom [in Epix], build up something together with Gamescom showcase at Opening Night Live, and then you go to have a developer talk in the IGN studio. Afterwards, you have a presentation at your booth and you win an award. It’s not just five days to show off in a booth you built — you can get the most out of all the components we created over the years.”