Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard, Nintendo, Take-Two, CD Projekt Red, Sony: They’ve all canceled. When Gamescom invites you back into the halls of Koelnmesse on August 24th, it will be one size smaller than in the past, at least in terms of content. After a two-year Corona break, the organizers would like a liberation – in view of the small number of games, there is a risk of a further loss of relevance.
The long break from the trade fair is not the only reason for the many cancellations. The industry is feeling the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic this year after benefiting from increased interest in video games in 2020 and 2021. Because while games that were already available were reaping new record numbers of players, the development of new titles in the studios was delayed: working from home torpedoed well-established structures and ensured that release postponements were the rule rather than the exception in the past few months.
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Gamescom 2022 – is it worth it?
The games are missing
Many developer studios are currently simply missing titles that they could show at Gamescom. Felix Falk, Managing Director of the game industry association, sees this as one of the main reasons for the cancellations. “Some said: ‘Unfortunately we can’t be there this year, although we fully support Gamescom’,” said Falk.
Gamescom lives from allusions. In order for this to work and be worthwhile for the developers, games must be relatively close to release and largely finished. Many large-scale productions are not scheduled this year: “God of War Ragnarök” is scheduled for release on November 9th, “The Last of Us Part 1” in September. Neither will be shown at Gamescom, as Sony is not there. EA launches the new “FIFA” every year, but not even that will be seen or even played at Gamescom – the US publisher is also staying at home. Many blockbusters simply do not remain.
In the grip of Corona
The industry association, which organizes Gamescom together with Koelnmesse, sees further reasons for the shyness of publishers in travel restrictions and a lack of budgets as a result of the corona pandemic. The fact that Gamescom 2022 can take place on site at all is not a matter of course. In 2021, an originally planned hybrid concept was abandoned at short notice due to the pandemic situation. And the competition fair E3 was completely canceled this year.
But Koelnmesse and the industry association game do not want to wait any longer, even though the number of infections is higher than ever these days. Anyone who goes to Gamescom has a good chance of taking home an infection as a souvenir in addition to memories and merchandise: There is no vaccination requirement, masks are optional and the halls are expected to be full again. In the first seven days after the start of sales alone, fans grabbed 60,000 tickets, and the organizers are reluctant to make further visitor forecasts.
Opening Night Live in front of an audience
Despite all the imponderables, Gamescom 2022 should feel like 2019, the organizers promise optimistically. “Like before, only better” is apparently unironically read on the Gamescom website. There are cosplay competitions, esports, awards events and an accompanying online program. So there will be a lot going on. Only the big games are missing.
(Image: Gamescom)
Instead, there’s plenty of second-tier gaming material, AA games, and indie hopes. As usual, the game show starts on August 23 with the live event Opening Night Live, moderated by game guru Geoff Keighley, which this time even takes place in front of an audience. This is where trailers are released and new games announced. Over 30 games are to be covered, including the new game from the “Subnautica” makers and “Hogwarts Legacy”.
If you want to show your title to the world public at the Opening Night Live, you have to show it in Cologne as well. Conversely, this means that all companies that have canceled will not have anything to show in the live stream either.
What visitors get to see
The games portfolio at Gamescom 2022 is comparatively thin: Ubisoft is bringing “Just Dance 2022” to the fair and showing new gameplay for its pirate online game “Skull & Bones”. Prime Matter is demonstrating its remake of the sci-fi classic “System Shock”, Level Infinite wants to convince visitors with “Warhammer 40,000: Darktide”. Microsoft has also confirmed its participation under the Xbox brand and plans to screen “A Plague Tale: Requiem” and “Pentiment”. Much of this content is also streamed on the online portal Gamescom Now.
Other Gamescom highlights include Sega’s Company of Heroes 3 and Capcom’s Street Fighter 6. In addition, there are two venues for indie games: the indie area and the indie arena booth in Hall 10.2. The Gamescom program also includes the event arena, in which, among other things, e-sports tournaments, cosplay competitions and concerts are held – among other things, the soundtrack of the game “Metal: Hellsinger” is played.
Gamescom smaller, tickets more expensive
On August 24, the halls will open to trade visitors and journalists, who can watch exclusive demos in Hall 4.2. The large audience can flock to the exhibition center from August 25th, the City Festival in Cologne starts one day later. Gamescom ends on Sunday 28th August.
(Image: Gamescom)
Although Gamescom has fewer games to offer this year than in the past, the tickets are becoming more expensive: day tickets cost between 25 and 31 euros – significantly more expensive than two years ago. Students, pupils and pensioners get a good 7 euros deducted from the price. Evening tickets, with which you can enter the site from 4 p.m., cost only 9 euros.
Participation in the Opening Night Live costs 29 euros. All tickets will be saved on mobile phones this year, so a Gamescom account is required. Appointments for events and screening opportunities can be booked via the app in order to avoid long queues. According to the organizer, Saturday tickets are already fully booked, and there will be no box office.
The signs for Gamescom 2022 are unfavorable, the lack of blockbuster games weighs heavily. A colorful program of parties, e-sports and other events is intended to compensate for the drought in gaming. It is questionable whether this will work out in the long term: If the publishers run away from Gamescom in the long term, the gamers will also prefer to stay at home at some point. Because metal concerts can at best temporarily replace blockbuster games.
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