COLOGNE, Germany — The first day is always filled with a bit of confusion when finding your way into the Koelnmesse. I show my digital ticket to a member of the security staff, and he shouts at his colleague: “P?”
I’m bewildered and look at his partner, who points down a long path and confirms; “Yes, P!” I’m in.
Gamescom 2022 begins with a hint of nostalgia as I make my way inside the venue, beelining my way to the relative safety of the business area. Here it’s quieter than the main floor, and usually air conditioned. Perhaps down to energy concerns, the climate wasn’t as well controlled as you might usually expect, and it didn’t seem like there was much escape from Cologne’s August heat.
Hiding away from the crowds isn’t everyone’s highlight though, as DayZ creator Dean Hall passionately explains to me: “Well for me, it’s all about the player days. Gamescom was the first place we showed off DayZ standalone and had people play it. All this business stuff is nonsense, it’s not the good part of Gamescom,” he states. “The sand of the Colosseum is seeing people play the games. That, to me, is Gamescom.”
The size of the Koelnmesse means that Gamescom feels like a huge event no matter what, but there were fewer games on display this year since publishers like Sony, EA, Nintendo, and Activision Blizzard declined to attend. Still, even without those heavyweights at the table, it was seemingly impossible to see everything, even with multiple days at your disposal.
Huge new announcements saw Dead Island 2 being brought back from the grave, and new trailers shone a spotlight on games like Lies of P during Gamescom Opening Night Live, hosted by Geoff Keighley. On the consumer side, a Pikachu-branded electric Mini Cooper was inside a toy-like display case, only life-size. Giant stands advertised games like One Piece Odyssey and Goat Simulator 3, while brands like Mcdonald’s also found a way to make themselves noticed.
The Callisto Protocol director Glen Schofield comments on how the event feels like a celebration: “The games industry needs this. We need to celebrate our industry. The growth the industry has seen in 30 years is amazing. I think we’ve done a good job, our generation, to hand this off to the next generation and say, ‘take care of this,’” Schofields explains. “The industry just keeps growing and getting better, and I love what I do. I love the industry, and why we do it.”
The Metal: Hellsinger concert opened up the show properly on Thursday night, and came complete with a supporting act, the game’s house band, and multiple rock superstars that feature in the game. Some mixing issues made it seem like the Opening Night Live PA system wasn’t ready for a fully-fledged metal gig, but few things are more metal than listening to music where you struggle to hear each instrument.
Events like that really made Gamescom 2022 feel, as Schofield said, like a celebration of gaming, a festival rather than a dry business meet – though, there was that, too. The exclusivity of old E3 events is a thing of the past, and instead Gamescom makes space for both the picky press and the fans that make the industry what it is. In a world where COVID is less restricted, Gamescom is one of the events that set the bar that E3 now needs to catch up to.
Written by Dave Aubrey on behalf of GLHF.
