Daniel Jaroki
In the name of the green camp and the letter X
It’s already clear that 2023 will be one of the busiest years in gaming history. Games like Diablo IV, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur’s Gate 3, Resident Evil 4 Remake, or Armored Core VI could easily win the Game of the Year award in weaker years. At least in terms of the sheer number of games that have been released, we should expect an even bigger load in the strong fall season. As one of the latest showcases for developers to showcase their upcoming games this year and next, Gamescom, the traditional gaming expo, has long been regarded as Europe’s largest and most prestigious gaming event and has been running for many years. in Germany since 2009. Cologne.
For me personally, after 2018 and 2022, this was the third year in a row when I could personally participate as a journalist, so in addition to approaching the event itself, let me compare it with previous years. Last year it became known that this was the first Gamescom since the coronavirus pandemic. Compared to previous years, there were fewer exhibitors and visitors last year. It was still a big event, but many of the leading gaming companies were absent or had very limited attendance at the event. As a result, instead of Xbox or Nintendo, THQ Nordic had the largest booth. This year’s entry list was even busier with a packed list of upcoming games.
Playable demo versions of Stalker and Phantom Liberty aroused the greatest interest.
The largest stand on the exhibition floor, accessible to all visitors of the fair, was built by Microsoft. The Redmon colossus showed games like Starfield, Forza Motorsport, Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty or STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl here. The big AAA titles were further complemented by a number of smaller titles such as Towerborne, Jusant, Under he Waves, and other stand-alone titles owned by the ID@Xbox program. As expected, playable demos of the upcoming Stalker generated the most interest. and a Phantom Liberty data disk for Cyberpunk 2077. In particular, Stalker took into account a very raw technical state – this is a bold move.
Nintendo and Ubisoft were also in attendance.
Nintendo also had a big booth at Gamescom this year, but they chose a completely different strategy. First of all, this consisted in the presentation of already released games, led by the latest Zeln or the fourth part of the Pikmin series. The exception in this regard was the upcoming 2.5D platformer Prince of Persia The Lost Crown from Ubisoft. The French publisher itself, somewhat surprisingly, did not show at the exhibition either the new Assasins Creed subtitled Mirage, or the pirate action Skull and Bones, which had been in development for many years. Instead, he focused his booth exclusively on The Crew Motorfest, which is just two weeks away. At least a playable demo of the mobile version of Assassin’s Creed Jade was available at the Level Infinite booth, but it was only a weak patch for fans of the series.
Despite the visible presence of large companies led by Microsoft, several leading players were completely absent from the event. First, Sony didn’t show up at Gamescom this year either. At the very least, a playable demo of Insomniac’s second Spider-Man would make sense in my opinion, given the upcoming release date. Also absent were leading American companies Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive, which also did not participate in Gamescom last year. Embracer Group games were also significantly less visible on the show floor. Considering that the company is in the process of restructuring and has not been doing very well financially lately, this is not a big surprise.
The traditional giants have been supplemented by a number of medium and small publishers.
The aforementioned American and European companies were able to represent Japanese publishers in the face of Sega and Bandai Namco. Sega has attracted games like Sonic Superstars, Hyenas, Persona 3 Reload, Persona 5 Tactica, or Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. Bandai Namco has focused mainly on the currently released Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, which has been expanded with Tekken 8, Sand Land, and Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections. In addition to the aforementioned eighth installment in the Tekken series, fighting game fans could also try Warner Bros.’s Mortal Kombat 1 rival. and developers from the NetherRealm studio. For a change, moviegoers could be excited about Netflix’s involvement.
shopping
The traditional giants were followed by a number of medium and small publishers, who added a space in one of the rooms dedicated exclusively to indie games and national gaming associations. For example, the action-RPG Black Myth: Wukong from the Chinese studio Game Science attracted a lot of attention. Publishers such as Team 17 (Blasphemous 2, Secret: France ’44), Microids (Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express, Flashback 2, Tintin Reporter – Pharaoh’s Cigars), Frontier Developments (Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin)) , CI Games (Lords of the Fallen) or Starbreeze (Payday 3). Compared to game shows in other parts of the world, Gamescom has also been heavily represented by simulation publishers. Germany is one of the key markets for this genre, so companies like Astragon, Aerosoft or Giant Software (Farming Simulator) had big booths on the show floor.
Already on the first day of the exhibition, designed primarily for journalists and other business representatives, the number of visitors increased significantly compared to last year. In addition, this year the organizers put up for sale a more expensive circulation of tickets, which already allowed regular players to enter the territory of the fair in the afternoon of the first day. Already in the second half of the first day, many hours of queues could be observed for the most anticipated games. In addition to the above-described events in the exhibition area, divided into several interconnected halls, the event also featured a strictly separate business section intended for journalists, developers and other people from the gaming industry.
Major physics gaming events have definitely not passed their zenith.
For ordinary players, then a place was prepared in separate halls for the sale of various game merchandise. Many gamers visit Gamescom for this very reason. You should not be too surprised, because here you can find almost everything: from T-shirts for sale for a few euros in the official stores of individual publishers to unique figurines, the prices of which reach thousands of euros. Gamescom confirmed to me this year that large physical gaming events have definitely not reached their zenith and still have their place in the gaming industry. In addition, due to the possible cancellation of E3 for good, the German exhibition has the potential for further growth in the future. It remains to be seen if PlayStation, absent this year, and remaining top publishers such as Electronic Arts and Take-Two will show interest in participating next year.
Jan Urbanchik
Although the last days of Gamescom are still going on in Cologne, for me the event is over and I have successfully returned home. In any case, during the two days at the exhibition center I gained a lot of experience and tried a number of interesting works.
I was at Gamescom for the second time this year, and compared to last year, the situation was not much different. However, it seemed to me that there were more games and there was more interest in the event again, it was almost impossible to move to the public part on Thursday. While I was literally running to the first game on Wednesday morning to catch it before the line formed, on Thursday the fairground was moving at a snail’s pace, if at all.
Of course, there are queues associated with the event, but luckily I did not wait too long in these queues, as I adjusted my plan according to the current length. Of course, I did not have time to do everything that I chose, but of course I did most of the titles, and expect impressions soon, some of them have already been released.
Although some major companies were absent this year, there were many booths on the show floor and some of them stood out for their design. Of course, I have to highlight the absolutely huge Xbox booth, which occupied about a third of the eighth hall. There you could find both big games and smaller indie games. Luckily, there were enough cars compared to last year so the queues weren’t as long, although there was huge interest in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty and I couldn’t get to it.
However, paradoxically, the imaginary culmination of the whole trip did not take place at the exhibition center at all. On Wednesday afternoon, I took the tram a little further to the cinema, where a special event was held for the game Alan Wake 2. In addition to the demo itself, which looked absolutely fantastic and you can find impressions of it here, I met with the creative director Remedy by Sam Lake, as well as Alex Battaglia of Digital Foundry, with whom I spoke about some of the recently announced technologies. It was a very enjoyable experience and honestly a great break from the crowded fairground.
On Thursday, I only headed to the showroom in the morning, after which it was next to impossible to get into the game, so I hid in the much more empty business section where I had a few meetings. The stands here, of course, were more modest in design, but offered a much more individual approach and the opportunity to get to know the developers directly.
Overall, I really enjoyed Gamescom 2023. E3 may be gone for good, but thankfully Gamescom is showing no signs of leaving, quite the opposite. This year, he has already fully recovered from the pandemic, which still slightly affected last year. And at the same time, it showed how incredibly strong 2023 is in the gaming industry. I think that we definitely have something to look forward to next time, and I believe that there will be a few more games.
Source :Indian TV
