The coronavirus pandemic isn’t stopping Gamescom 2020 from happening as the German video game fair is set to go all-digital.
The coronavirus saw the cancellation of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). But it won’t stop Gamescom, the world’s largest video game event, from happening this year.
Now more than ever
According to Gamescom managing director Felix Falk, with the current situation with the coronavirus, games have become an important tool in bringing joy to the people and letting them come together. Because of this, he believes the gaming industry has the responsibility of being innovative together despite the challenges.
For this reason, Gamescom will be going all-digital for this year.
“We asked ourselves how we should react, because so many events are calling off everything and going for next year,” says Falk. “But really quickly we decided we definitely wanted to go digital. For one thing because our digital strategy greatly expanded last year… We had such great progress that we didn’t want to wait another year to proceed.”
Are you #up4gamescom? 🔥 Get ready for numerous new shows and known formats from August 27th to August 30th such as #gamescom now and the gamescom: Opening Night Live with host @geoffkeighley! Stay tuned for #gamescom2020: https://t.co/PM2lrnVnFe pic.twitter.com/uRUkfyCPzI
— gamescom (@gamescom) May 18, 2020
When will Gamescom 2020 happen?
The event will span the intended dates for the physical event before it was canceled. This means that Gamescom 2020 will start on August 27 and end on August 30, 2020.
The event will serve as the grand finale for the digital Summer Game Fest, which was launched after a series of game events were forced to cancel due to the pandemic.
Kicking Gamescom 2020 off with Opening Night Live
Gamescom 2020 will kick start with the Opening Night Live hosted by Geoff Keighley. 2019 saw the addition of the Opening Night Live segment to Gamescom. Despite its newness, the segment proved to be one of the biggest additions to the event.
Quick update: @gamescom Opening Night Live will now take place live on August 27 and kick off 3 days of @gamescom 2020. We’re planning a spectacular show that will also be the grand finale of @summergamefest More at https://t.co/KRzKTQeHcs pic.twitter.com/3gVEvG1so7
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) May 18, 2020
What made Opening Night Live so popular is that it provides the same platform for game announcements the way E3 does. Even in its first year, it already managed to attract 500,000 viewers.
Interestingly, Geoff Keighley, the man behind Opening Night Live, dropped out of E3 prior to its cancellation this year.
What to expect
The physical event is traditionally held in Cologne, Germany. During the event, participants would be able to venture into different areas/sections catering to various niches like business and entertainment.
Because a physical event is no longer possible, that format will transition to a digital setting. On the Gamescom central portal, viewers would be able to choose and view various areas such as cosplay, indies, merchandise, content creator, and eSports.
Gamescom 2020 will also introduce new formats this year. There will be an exclusive event that would announce independent game titles called the Awesome Indies. People can still expect gaming companies and their partners to talk about their projects throughout the event.
There will be a daily segment that would highlight and expound on the events held within the day called The Daily Show. A daily Gamescom studio event will see the industry’s top developers talk about their current and upcoming projects.
Furthermore, there will also be a daily Devcom event that focuses on game development. Game developers would also get the chance to attend master classes held within the Devcom event.
On the last day, there will also be an award-giving event called The Best Show and provide summaries and highlights of Gamescom 2020.
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