Taking its cue from pandemic-mandated suspensions of other events including E3, GDC, and weekly dinner with the in-laws, Gamescom has confirmed that it’s a no-show at the Koelnmesse in 2020 – instead, choosing to host the first ever digital version of the expo.
Gamescom “will under no circumstances take place on site in Cologne”, the organisers announced on Twitter last night, and the team is now working on its cyber clone.
Official statement regarding #gamescom2020 ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/fHaN4GOULM
— gamescom (@gamescom) April 16, 2020
Like E3, Gamescom features marquee presentations from Sony, Microsoft, and other industry corps and development studios, which are usually livestreamed for global audiences anyway. Reworking these for a screen format shouldn’t make much difference, but indies and merch vendors miss out. Bummer, but with the German government extending its prohibition of big public events until the end of August, them’s the breaks.