discussions with partners and exhibitors. Thus, the organizers take into account the current situation, in which too many companies are unable to participate in physical events this year due to the still difficult development. In this way, they also meet the partners’ strong need for planning security. This means that gamescom 2021 will be held exclusively digitally and free of charge for all gamescom fans. In 2020, gamescom celebrated numerous successes: Over 100 million video views across all formats and channels, more than 50 million unique users from 180 countries, and 370 partners from 44 countries. Building on this success, the digital offering is now being expanded further.
Oliver Frese, Chief Operating Officer of Koelnmesse says: “Together with game – The German Games Industry Association, we have put all our energy into making gamescom 2021 in a hybrid format possible for fans and industry alike. However, even though the hybrid concept was very well received by the partners, we had to recognize that gamescom still comes too early for many companies in the industry due to the required planning reliability. One thing is absolutely clear: All those involved now need planning reliability. That’s why we’re going for a purely digital gamescom again this year and, with sufficient lead time, will be able to offer the gaming community an even stronger online event at the end of August 2021. gamescom 2020 and other trade fairs such as DMEXCO @home 2020 and h+h cologne @home 2021 are proof that we can do this. All partners can book their participation starting immediately.”
Felix Falk, Managing Director of game – The German Games Industry Association comments: “We, as the game industry, also want to use gamescom to show that innovations and bold developments are the best way to deal with such crises. With this in mind, the gamescom team has been hard at work for months on gamescom 2021, especially on the digital elements. Next year will be the first time that we will be able to implement many of the new concepts for the hybrid format of gamescom. For digital gamescom 2021, our focus is to provide even more games and reach as well as a heightened community atmosphere. We are therefore introducing a completely new concept called gamescom epix, which sends the community on a joint quest journey in social media even before gamescom begins. What we want to do with this is transfer even more of the unique gamescom atmosphere to the digital world. Together with our numerous partners, we want to make gamescom the world’s biggest gaming event again in 2021.”
With gamescom 2021, Koelnmesse and game – The German Games Industry Association want to build directly on the success of last year’s online event. gamescom will once again be kicked off by the spectacular gamescom: Opening Night Live with Geoff Keighley. The gamescom now content hub is being completely relaunched in a more attractive design with numerous additional features for fans and partners. Also new is gamescom epix, a community campaign that allows fans to playfully immerse themselves in the gamescom universe on the road to gamescom. Starting with gamescom: Opening Night Live on Wednesday evening (August 25) to Friday evening (August 27), gamescom fans can look forward to a full program, with some of the highlights and promotions also running over the weekend.
devcom, the first go-to source for developers and their ecosystem, will also feature an extensive online program and provide the games industry with a central business platform. Several full-day business matchmaking events, such as the popular “Indies meet Investors and Publishers” format devcom Pitch it! or special matchmaking and pitching events with devcom’s international community stands, will be significantly expanded. Another new feature is devcom’s clear focus on content and the extensive conference program on the first two days, while Wednesday to Friday will be all about business, networking and devcom’s popular digital expo. However, the launch of the new online B2B platform gamescom biz will be postponed by one year because its features can only be fully rolled out in a hybrid concept. The gamescom congress, Europe’s leading conference on the social, economic and cultural potential of games, will once again take place only digitally on Thursday, August 26, 2021.
In the slightly adjusted schedule for digital gamescom 2021, gamescom week will start with devcom as usual on Monday, August 23. gamescom: Opening Night Live will take place on Wednesday, August 25, with the main days of gamescom on Thursday and Friday, August 26 and 27. Some of the offers will continue to be available over the following weekend.
In 2020, gamescom: Opening Night Live in collaboration with Geoff Keighley captivated more than 2 million live simultaneous viewers in front of their screens. World premieres and the latest news about the most hotly anticipated game titles were presented during the big opening show. This year as well, Geoff Keighley and his team are producing gamescom: Opening Night Live and preparations are already in full swing. The show will be moved by one day this year to Wednesday, August 25, 2021.
As in previous years, other, international gamescom shows such as gamescom studio and the 2020 premiere of gamescom: Awesome Indies will also be produced by IGN once again.
Gamescom partners have the opportunity to become part of the shows with their games and content. For indie developers, there will be a wide range of offerings in collaboration with Indie Arena Booth Online, which will be integrated as an interactive game in gamescom now as a central platform.
In 2021, as in previous years, gamescom now is the first go-to source for gaming fans worldwide. This is where the gamescom shows and partner content will be bundled together in a clear, readily accessible way – the heart of gamescom 2021 beats here. The platform has been completely relaunched both in terms of content and technically. Awaiting visitors are a revamped and significantly improved user interface, customizable schedules, numerous live streams, events, shows and information about all the games and gamescom partners.
The latter benefit from the new, easy-to-use content management system, which makes it even easier for them to maintain their content and present it to visitors in an appealing way. The new CMS gives partners numerous, individual content integration options – the digital reach increases in line with the optimized display options and other measures.
Immersing yourself in the gamescom universe on the road to gamescom, taking on epic quests together with the entire community, achieving success and bringing the gamescom feeling to life? That is exactly what the new gamescom epix community campaign wants to achieve. Fun, interactive social media activities throughout the gamescom cosmos allow fans to interact with gamescom 2021 content and partners before gamescom week and collect points to win unique prizes during gamescom in August. The prizes will be kept in the big gamescom vault, which will open its doors at the start of gamescom.
Further information on the extensive online program, indie offering and gamescom 2021 partners to follow in the coming weeks.
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