Germany’s Gamescom and Devcom are stepping out of E3’s shadow

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Gamescom has always been one of the biggest trade shows on the planet, drawing more than 265,000 people to Cologne, Germany in August 2022. But in a way, the big fan expo was in the shadow of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles.

E3 was where the biggest companies in the world held their press conference as the entire world awaited their announcements. But that’s not true anymore. E3 failed to make its comeback in the post-pandemic return to business and was canceled this year instead. Gamescom and its sister event Devcom are coming out of the shadows and enjoying considerable growth.

With more tourism and added exhibitors this year, it seems likely that Gamescom is going to when the show gets its latest run from August 22 to August 27. And its business-to-business event, Devcom (August 20 to August 22), is also expected to see strong growth from its previous high last year of 3,500 game industry attendees, said Nico Balleta, head of program at Devcom, in an interview with GamesBeat.

I’m planning to go, and I’ll moderate a couple of sessions, including a panel on generative AI dubbed Surviving the AI Tsunami and another one dubbed Breaking the Walls: Redefining Gaming Platforms for a Limitless Future. They’re both on August 22 at Devcom.

Both Microsoft and Nintendo said they were going to be at the show. It’s not clear yet what kind of news they’re going to make. Companies like China’s NetEase said they will have their biggest Gamescom presence to date.

Geoff Keighley will kick off Gamescom with Opening Night Live on August 23, and that show will likely have a lot of game announcements. Last