Gamescom 2025 Is An “Indicator That There Are Positive Times Ahead,” Says Organizer

By Alyssa Mercante | August 15, 2025 | 12:33pm

Main photo: Gamescom 2024, courtesy of Getty

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Gamescom 2025 Is An “Indicator That There Are Positive Times Ahead,” Says Organizer

Gamescom 2025 is shaping up to be the biggest iteration of the Cologne, Germany convention yet, and its organizers believe that’s a sign the video game industry is on the mend.

With record attendance numbers expected, increased global reach, and a massive boost in the size of the event since the covid-19 pandemic, organizers, which include Game, the German games industry association, and Geoff Keighley, who hosts the Opening Night Live kickoff show, were in high spirits during a pre-Gamescom press briefing on August 14.

Keighley, who only appeared to discuss event details and did not stay for the after-briefing questions, pointed out that many of the games featured during his Opening Night Live presentation will be playable at the convention, which runs from August 20 to 24. “There are so few consumer events left at this scale that people can go and play games,” he pointed out. (E3, the massive LA-based convention that was the biggest consumer event in the video game industry for nearly two decades, officially died in 2023.)

According to Keighley, Opening Night Live will also include a worldwide reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, new footage of Resident Evil: Reqiuem, and a special Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 musical performance. Keighley told press he believes it’s one of the best lineups ONL has ever had.

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During the brief, director of Gamescom Tim Endres highlighted some new and returning attendees, including Roblox (new) and Nintendo (returning) and suggested this year will have a lot of high-quality companies on the show floor. “Next week, the eyes of the gaming world will be on Cologne,” Endres said.

But what was most interesting, perhaps, was how Gamescom organizers feel about the state of the video game industry, which has seen studios shutter, game development grind to a halt, and around 35,000 people laid off over the last three years.

Felix Falk, the managing director of Game, said the sheer size and scope of this year’s show is a “positive indicator that there are positive times ahead.” He believes that, though the past “two years” were tough on the industry, it is “recovering from consolidation, layoffs, and studio closings.” When asked what else contributed to his belief that the games industry ship was righting itself after years of uncertainty post-covid, Falk suggested the number of exhibitors and the “new dynamic on the hardware side,” thanks to both the Nintendo Switch 2 and the upcoming Xbox Rog Ally X, were signs that the industry was healing.

Falk also pointed to recently released market data that shows the German games market has grown by 4% in the first half of 2025. He said the overall vibe in Koelnmesse, the conference center where Gamescom takes place, is much better than it was last year—though we’ll see for ourselves when we head to Germany next week.

Gamescom 2025 takes place from August 20 to 24. The Opening Night Live ceremony will kick off on Tuesday, August 19 at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT / 8 p.m. CEST.

Alyssa Mercante is a freelance video game and internet culture journalist based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been featured in Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Jezebel, Kotaku, and more, and she regularly streams on Twitch.