When Gamescom 20 begins in Cologne on August 2019, the focus should be on the community. This is what the organizers of the world's largest video game and entertainment fair have announced. No other medium has such a creative and passionate community as Games. Whether cosplayer, modder, eSportsman or streamer: The great commitment of the players makes them an elementary part of the games culture, creates new trends again and again and drives the development of the medium forward.
The community is actively involved in the development with their ideas and wishes even before a game is released. How dynamic and lively the relationship between the community and game developers is is particularly evident at Gamescom.
Community is an elementary part of games culture
The main theme and the trends of Gamescom 2019 were announced today by game - the Association of the German Games Industry and Koelnmesse as joint organizers in Berlin. The partner country of this year's Gamescom is Holland. Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer, Digital State Minister Dorothee Bär, Dr. Joachim Stamp, Deputy Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia and Minister for Children, Family, Refugees and Integration, and Cologne's Lord Mayor Henriette Reker take part.
"With its passionate commitment, the games community is an elementary part of games culture and, in interaction with the game developers, plays a decisive role in shaping the trends in the medium. Nowhere is this more evident than at Gamescom, the largest games festival in the world. "
Felix Falk, Managing Director of game - Association of the German Games Industry
Never before had game developers involved the communities so much in the development of new titles, explains Falk. They collected feedback on innovations, took up ideas and organized their own events - not least at Gamescom. The games industry would once again show the way for other branches of the economy, says Falk.
“Customers become a community, with which the relationship is intensively cultivated, because it makes a decisive contribution to success. This is one of the reasons why we at Gamescom are concentrating particularly on the community this year, starting with our new, internationally streamed show 'Gamescom: Opening Night Live' and extending the area for indie developers to a more comfortable stay. "
Felix Falk, Managing Director of game - Association of the German Games Industry
As one of the Gamescom trends 2019, cloud gaming has the potential to change the games industry significantly. The big advantage: Since all essential calculations take place in data centers in cloud gaming, the player himself no longer needs particularly powerful hardware. This means that even the most technically demanding titles can be played on simple laptops, smartphones or tablets. All you need is a fast, low-latency internet connection.
Trending topics: cloud gaming, indie games
Initial offers such as PlayStation Now from Sony or GeForce NOW from NVIDIA are already available. Other companies have announced their own cloud gaming services, such as Microsoft and Google, or are working on technologies to further increase the performance of cloud services, such as "Orion" from Bethesda Softworks. The games industry is once again proving to be a technological pioneer: in no other area of cloud services is implementation so technically so demanding and complex.
"Whether cloud gaming or indie games: this year's Gamescom trends particularly show Germany's great potential to become one of the international hotspots of the games industry. Germany has a very lively and creative indie scene. Germany is also one of the first markets in which several cloud gaming offerings come onto the market. At the same time, however, it is also becoming clear that we have to create the right framework conditions if we want to use this potential and not allow ourselves to be dependent on other, more committed countries. Above all, the permanent establishment of games funding and the timely expansion of high-speed broadband connections should be the focus for politics. "
Felix Falk, Managing Director of game - Association of the German Games Industry
Indie games are another trend at Gamescom 2019. More than ever before, small, independent studios are developing games that stand out in a unique way, whether through serious themes, artistic approaches or an unusual design. Many creative and extraordinary titles as well as some surprise hits come from indie teams today.
A colorful program awaits fans at Gamescom 2019. Photo archive: André Volkmann
In doing so, these independent studios have become an integral part of games culture. The possibility of being able to offer games cheaply worldwide via download portals as well as developer software that is easier to use have increased the trend towards indie games. The titles of these developers are also a crowd puller at Gamescom. With the new "indie village", the area for indie games has been significantly enlarged. This more than doubled the number of indie developers at Gamescom.
Gamescom 2019 with some innovations
More space, more space for visitors, an opening show and more program: Gamescom 2019 will be bigger, more colorful, more interactive - but above all, more relaxed for visitors. At least that is the plan of the organizers, who want to offer more highlights for the upcoming video game fair than ever before.
In 2019, Gamescom will occupy a total of 210.000 square meters (+5 percent compared to 2018) and, thanks to this and other measures, promises more space and a better quality of stay for visitors. Game fans can also look forward to numerous innovations and hundreds of game highlights: with over 1.000 expected exhibitors, spectacular game presentations are guaranteed. The field of participants at Gamescom is international as usual this year - more than 50 countries will be represented. In addition, the Gamescom indie village (Hall 10.2) and the Event Arena (new: 11.3) will celebrate their premiere this year. The week “full of gaming” starts with the new opening show, Gamescom: Opening Night Live with presenter and producer Geoff Keighley on August 19th.
“The Gamescom success story is impressive. This is certainly due to the impressive development in the number of exhibitors and visitors as well as the continuous increase in internationality over the past few years. This year, however, the focus is primarily on strategic and conceptual developments - which will be visible and tangible at Gamescom: The strengthening as a platform for innovations, the topic of independent developers and further digitization, internationalization and eventization are some of the central ones Innovations. We are convinced that with these measures and through an improved quality of stay, we will once again offer our guests from all over the world a gaming event of superlatives ”.
Gerald Böse, CEO of Koelnmesse GmbH
With Gamescom: Opening Night Live, a furious start to the Gamescom week is guaranteed. On Monday, August 19, 2019, 20:00 p.m., presenter and producer Geoff Keighley will delight around 1.500 visitors with the new live show. As part of Gamescom: Opening Night Live, gamers around the world will get an overview of what to expect during Gamescom week this year. The brand new show will feature announcements from major publishers and indie developers, world premieres with new trailers and guest appearances by stars of the international games industry. An extra ticketing is planned for Gamescom: Opening Night Live - more information will follow shortly. Those who cannot be there live in Hall 11.3 can watch the show live from 20:00 p.m. CEST, 14:00 p.m. EDT, 11:00 a.m. PDT.
The organizers want to offer numerous highlights. Photo archive: André Volkmann
Game fans can also expect further innovations in the entertainment area (Halls 5 to 10, 11.3 and P8). One of them is the new event arena in Hall 11.3. There is a special event program to experience here, which differs significantly from other Gamescom event areas. In addition, the Gamescom indie village is celebrating its premiere in Hall 10.2: Here visitors will find hundreds of independent developers. In general, Gamescom fans can look forward to more space this year. In addition to enlarging the area to 210.000 square meters, the rectification of visitor hotspots, the widening of the aisles, additional catering and lounge areas as well as the introduction of the new evening ticket, with which one can enter the exhibition grounds for 7 euros from 16 p.m. to 20 p.m. can provide a better Gamescom experience.
Information and all tickets that are still available can be found at www.gamescom.de.
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