Similar to E3, Gamescom is an annual event held in Cologne, Germany that celebrates all things video games. Starting on August 20 and running through the 24, several publishers offer visitors an opportunity to try out their latest projects on the showroom floor. Companies like Nintendo, Microsoft, and Google, however, like to kick off the show a day earlier by holding some press conferences of their own, and these are moments that you usually don’t want to miss.
Gamescomdiffers from E3 in that it doesn’t usually offer atonof AAA game announcements, but it’s still a great opportunity to see upcoming games in action and learn more about gaming hardware arriving in the future. If you want to catch up on all the presentations, you can learn about the biggest gaming announcements that came from the show below.
Nintendo Indie World Showcase
August 19 at 6 A.M. PT/9 A.M. ET
Nintendo was the first major publisher to reveal new information during Gamescom. The video presentation ran for 20 minutes and focused on indie games coming to the Nintendo Switch. We did a separate round-up onall the games announced during the Indie World Showcase, with some of the biggest titles being Risk of Rain 2, Eastward, Superhot, The Touryst, and the Hotline Miami collection.
Industry analystDaniel Ahmadcorrectly predicted one of the games would be an Xbox and Microsoft exclusive during the presentation. This turned out to beOri and the Blind Forest, which released several years ago to critical acclaim and currently has a sequel in production.
The Nintendo Indie World Showcase at Gamescom can be rewatched onYouTube.
Inside Xbox
August 19 at 8 A.M. PT/11 A.M. ET
Microsoft brought a ton of news to its Gamescom presentation this year, with fresh looks and information on several of its AAA games. During the Inside Xbox event, we learned more about the X019 celebration and news related to the Xbox Game Pass program. We also saw trailers, gameplay, and information on the following:
Alongside the games, Microsoft also unveiled two new accessories: Xbox One controllers sporting a grey camo designcalled Night Ops and anotherdubbed Sport Blue.
Inside Xbox’s Gamescom presentation can be watched again onYouTube.
Google Stadia Connect
August 19 at 10 A.M. PT/1 P.M. ET
Google has already gone in-depth with itsgame-streaming service Stadia, detailing the requirements for internet speeds as well as the features it will have. During its Stadia Connect presentation at Gamescom, the focus was taken off of the service itself and onto the game it will launch with.
We reported on theall the titles announced for Stadia at Gamescom, with titlesCyberpunk 2077,Watch Dogs Legion,Darksiders Genesis, and the platform’s timed exclusiveOrcs Must Die! 3being the biggest highlights. Anotherexclusive for StadianamedGyltwas shown later during Gamescom Opening Night Live.
Though the focus was placed on the games, it would’ve been a great opportunity to show how well Stadia can run games that demand low latency.Mortal Kombat 11andSamurai Shodownwill be coming to the service, and a live match between professional players would have served as a great proof of concept before the service launches later this year. We’d also like to see a glimpse of the exclusive projects Google is preparing for Stadia after its launch.
The Google Stadia Connect at Gamescom can be watched again onYouTube.
Gamescom Opening Night Live
August 19 at 11 A.M. PT/2 P.M. ET
Geoff Keighley closed off the day by hostingGamescom Opening Night Live, showcasing two hours worth of games from several publishers, including ones that didn’t host their own press conferences.
Games shown during the Gamescom Opening Night Live includedGears 5,Call of Duty: Modern Warfare,Death Stranding,Destiny 2: Shadowkeep,Need for Speed: Heat,Comanche,Little Nightmares 2, andPredator: Hunting Grounds. More developers and publishers collaborated with Keighley and this included the likes of 2K Games, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Epic Games, Google, Deep Silver, Private Division, Sega, Square Enix, Sony, THQ Nordic, Ubisoft, and Microsoft.
During the event,major news came from Sony via Twitterrevealing the game studio has acquired Insomniac Games, the popular studio behindMarvel’s Spider-man,Sunset Overdrive,Spyro the Dragon, andRatchet & Clank.
