One of the world’s biggest gaming shows, Gamescom, is now underway in Cologne, Germany, and hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend. The organizers sold out the entire 233,000 square meter exhibition floor at the Koelnmesse exhibition center, with more than 1,600 exhibitors signing up to show off their games and products.
In short, Gamescom is huge. It might not be the world’s largest gaming event, as that title belongs to ChinaJoy, which had more than 438,000 attendees this year. But Gamescom is a bona fide juggernaut, and it’s stayed strong, and grown, while other events have come and gone (looking at you, E3!).
GameSpot caught up with Gamescom boss Tim Endres (director of Gamescom at Koelnmesse) and Stefan Heikhaus (director of Gamescom and events) to discuss how the event comes together each year, how the organization defines success, and how the show has been impacted by the death of E3.
We also chatted to the pair about partnering with Geoff Keighley for the big kickoff show, Opening Night Live, and what Gamescom is doing to help shine a light on smaller games that might struggle to get noticed in the sea of blockbusters that dominate the headlines. The organizers also discussed bringing Games Done Quick to Gamescom for the first time, as well as Gamescom’s new Gaming for Democracy initiative to help use the show as a platform for good.
You can see our full interview below, and be sure to stay with GameSpot for the week to get all the biggest news, videos, and interviews from the show floor.
Gamescom is now underway, but how early do you begin planning each August’s show, and what is that process like, generally speaking?
Tim Endres: Planning for the next Gamescom begins while the current one is still taking shape. An event of this size is an ongoing cycle of listening, analyzing, and improving. After each edition we closely examine feedback from all our communities. This feedback directly feeds into decisions regarding hall planning, crowd flow, accessibility, program structure, and more.
At the same time, the industry moves extremely fast. We must understand early on which topics are becoming relevant, which communities are growing, where publishers and developers see value, and how fans want to experience games on-site and digitally.
How do you define and measure success for a giant event like Gamescom?
Stefan Heikhaus: There are two sides to this answer. One is numbers: visitors, trade visitors, exhibitors, international participation and digital reach. But numbers alone do not define success for us. What matters just as much is the quality of the experience: whether fans, content creators, journalists, exhibitors and industry professionals feel comfortable, inspired and connected, and whether they have an extraordinarily good time at Gamescom. That is why feedback after the event is so important to us–it helps us improve things year after year.
Gamescom is known for bringing in thousands upon thousands of attendees. In this post-COVID world, have you seen attendance normalize back to historical trends?
Tim Endres: We have seen a very clear recovery since returning to a physical event. But it is not simply a return to the pre-pandemic model – Gamescom has since become a hybrid event. After two digital-only editions, Gamescom returned to Cologne with 265,000 visitors in 2022. That increased to 320,000 in 2023, 335,000 in 2024 and 357,000 visitors from 128 countries in 2025. At the same time, digital reach went from 228,000 to over 1.1 billion views. The way people experience Gamescom has changed.
The digital layer has become much more important.
The on-site event in Cologne is still the emotional center and the place where fans meet, play, celebrate, and connect. But the digital layer has become much more important. With that, we reach more people than ever before with our event.
Can you talk about your partnership with Geoff Keighley for Gamescom Opening Night Live, and how the synergy works to benefit both parties?
Stefan Heikhaus: Working with Geoff Keighley and his team has been a very valuable partnership since the first meetings back in 2018. They bring deep industry knowledge, a strong creative vision, and many years of experience in producing large-scale shows. On our side, we make sure that Gamescom Opening Night Live is closely connected to the on-site experience and to the spirit of Gamescom itself.
That is where the synergy really comes in: Gamescom Opening Night Live is not just a standalone showcase. It is the official kick-off to the world’s biggest games event. Fans can watch major announcements on Tuesday night and then experience many of those games during the week in Cologne. Many of the reveals and news are explored in greater depth by journalists, content creators, and our official programming such as the Gamescom studio throughout the week as well. That connection between a global digital stage and a real-world festival atmosphere is what makes the format special. The energy and enthusiasm of fans is tangible during the stream, and I believe that is something the global audience really feels.
For Gamescom, the show is a key pillar of our hybrid concept and helps us reach the global community. At the same time, the show benefits from being directly embedded in a week where the entire industry comes together in one place.
Big consumer events in gaming have come and gone over the years, but Gamescom has been going strong for multiple decades now. What has allowed Gamescom to grow and thrive in the way that it has while others have come and gone?
Tim Endres: I think Gamescom’s strength is that it has continued to evolve with the community and the industry. It is not only a consumer show and not only a business event. It brings together the whole gaming ecosystem in one place. At the same time, Gamescom has grown into a hybrid event. When digital formats became more important, we expanded them. During the pandemic, instead of disappearing from the calendar, Gamescom continued as a digital event. Today, formats such as Gamescom Opening Night Live, the Gamescom awesome indies show and Gamescom epix are important pillars of Gamescom. And finally, on-site experience matters. There is a very specific atmosphere when the halls, the city and the global gaming community come together. People come for the announcements, but also to meet each other, discover games, and be part of a shared culture. This emotional aspect is difficult to replace.
Games Done Quick is coming to Gamescom for the first time–how did this partnership come about and what makes it so exciting for your and the Gamescom audience?
Tim Endres: Speedrunning has been part of Gamescom in different forms for many years, but 2026 is the first time we are working with Games Done Quick. For us, GDQ is a fantastic partner because they bring together passion of the speedrun community and social engagement — all things that are very much part of gaming culture. Gamescom GDQ will run for three days, from August 28 to 30, live on site at Gamescom and streamed worldwide through GDQ’s official Twitch and YouTube channels. The program speaks for itself: From blindfolded runs to a shared-controller run of Hades 2 to up to regular speedruns of fan favorite games such as Hollow Knight: Silksong. The schedule is full of things fans can look forward to in the usual GDQ manner.
At the same time, donations will support Gaming for Democracy, an initiative of the Foundation for Digital Games Culture and Bertelsmann Stiftung. With that, we are not just bringing premium entertainment to the show floor but also use Gamescom as a platform to support the good cause and make community efforts visible.
Getting prominent placement and attention at a big event like Gamescom may feel challenging for smaller developers and publishers–what are you doing to help those kinds of teams have a place and find success at Gamescom?
Stefan Heikhaus: Smaller teams have always been an essential part of Gamescom. On-site, we support them through special offerings for the exhibition space in the Gamescom indie area as well as the Gamescom invest circle, where young studios can meet investors, publishers and strategic partners. Digital initiatives such as the Gamescom awesome indies show, the Gamescom steam event, and Gamescom biz complement that offering. For 2026, we are also continuing to invest into and develop the Gamescom awesome indies show together with IGN, giving indie games from Gamescom an even stronger global stage. Not to mention that indie games, too, have the chance to be part of Gamescom Opening Night Live.
Our aim for Gamescom is to be the number-one platform where people discover indie games. That is why we will once again listen to feedback, evaluate it and improve for following years. Yet, welcoming 420 exhibitors in our indie area for the first time already is a good sign that we are moving in the right direction.
Has Gamescom seen discernible effects following the cancellation of E3 years ago? More people and businesses signing up to attend?
Tim Endres: Gamescom has always been its own thing. Yet, we have naturally taken on a larger share of the global spotlight. But we would not reduce the growth of Gamescom to one single factor. Gamescom continued to take place every year, expanded its hybrid model and built formats such asGamescom Opening Night Live, the Gamescom awesome indies show, regional editions with Gamescom asia x Thailand Game Show and Gamescom latam–we continuously expanded our expertise and reach which ultimately led to the success we are currently seeing. In 2025, we exceeded 1 billion views on our content until the end of August of that year for the first time. In 2026, we booked up the available exhibition space for the first time. That success comes from years of dedication and hard work. And the continuous adaptation to an ever-changing games industry.
You now have Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show and Gamescom latam–both of which have found large audiences as well. How are these shows going, and do you see opportunities for growing further with more shows?
Stefan Heikhaus: Gamescom latam in São Paulo and Gamescom asia x Thailand Game Show in Bangkok are important parts of the Gamescom family. With Gamescom asia x Thailand Game Show, we brought together a globally connected B2B platform and a strong fan-focused B2C experience. Gamescom latam, too, is growing with each passing year and we are very proud to see how both events evolve while keeping their regional DNA. For now, our focus is on developing these existing formats further and making sure they create value for their regional communities, exhibitors and partners. We always keep an open mind, but there are currently no concrete plans to launch additional regional Gamescom events.
Anything else people should know about Gamescom 2026?
Tim Endres: While we talk a lot about Gamescom awesome indies show and Gamescom Opening Night Live, the Gamescom studio program, too, is worth following. The special thing about this is that we not only feature a high number of content pieces throughout the week–it really is a symbol of our globalization aspect. Since last year, we have featured Gamescom studio content in four languages. German and English have been part of the studio for many years already. But we will continue to invest in Mandarin and Japanese content as well. With that, we want to ensure that Gamescom becomes even more accessible around the world. We see these markets as very important for our global approach and therefore want to deliver news in a way that works best for the audience.
