gamescom 2018: gaming and fun for the whole family – Event Schedule

gamescom 2018 opens with world premieres

• Political guests of honour are Dorothee Bär, Germany’s Minister of State for Digitalisation, and Armin Laschet, Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia
• ‘Diversity wins’ is the central theme of gamescom 2018
• The gamescom 2018 partner country is Spain

Berlin, 19 July 2018 – gamescom 2018 is marking its tenth anniversary by opening with several surprises: A number of games will make their global debut at the opening, where they will be introduced by their developers. The political guests of honour will be Dorothee Bär, who as Germany’s Minister of State for Digitalisation is the federal official responsible for all games-related issues, and Armin Laschet, Minister-President of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. And for the first time, holders of a ‘wild card’, which allows private visitors to attend gamescom on the exclusive trade visitor and media day, will additionally be able to take part in the official opening. This was announced today by the gamescom sponsor, game – the German Games Industry Association, and Koelnmesse, the event organiser, at a press event in Berlin. The partner country of gamescom 2018 is Spain. The leading theme this year, ‘Diversity wins’, spotlights the great diversity and versatility of games as an entertainment medium, cultural asset and important door opener to digitisation for millions of people.

‘The new opening gets right to the heart of the strengths of gamescom: the world’s largest event for computer and video games stands for first-class entertainment, but also keeps its eye on the societal discourse around games,’ says Felix Falk, Managing Director of game. ‘gamescom highlights the unique history of computer and video games like no other event. What began as a niche medium has grown to include more than 2.2 billion gamers worldwide. With their unparalleled variety, games excite people – and with their content and technologies, they’re important drivers of innovation for many areas of the economy and life overall. Games are the key medium of digitisation.’

‘Play anytime, anywhere’
Games are so popular today in all population groups because they are available everywhere and on just about any device. Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets play a major part in this development. Around ten years after the introduction of the app store, smartphones have become the most popular gaming platform among Germans. This has made games available everywhere and playable by anyone by means of simple touchscreen control. The low threshold to entry, the great diversity of titles and permanent availability have decisively contributed to the strong growth in player numbers worldwide in recent years.

The availability of games will continue to increase in the coming years. In addition to the purchase of individual titles, subscription models are establishing themselves. For a fixed monthly charge, players can access a large catalogue of games which they can install on their games consoles and PCs. Examples include Origin Access Premier from Electronic Arts and the Xbox Game Pass from Microsoft. Other offerings like PlayStation Now from Sony, in contrast, are using cloud gaming as their basis. This doesn’t require a high-performance gaming PC or current games console. The actual computing of the game takes place in the data centre. This allows even blockbuster titles with elaborate graphics to be played on less high-powered terminal devices. What is required, however, is a fast and low-latency internet connection.

About gamescom 2018
gamescom opens for all interested trade visitors on Tuesday, 21 August 2018, and for the general public on Wednesday, 22 August 2018. Last year, 919 companies from 54 countries presented their latest products. In 2017, a total of 355,000 visitors from 106 countries used gamescom as an entertainment and business platform. This makes gamescom the largest global computer and video games event as well as Europe’s largest business platform for the games industry. With the business area, the entertainment area, the devcom, the gamescom congress and the gamescom city festival, gamescom offers tailored platforms for all audiences.

Schedule of Events and Congresses for all Overview