Gamescom is once again going to be in-person. Last year, Gamescom introduced a hybrid-style event where a very limited number of tickets were sold to ensure compliance with COVID-19 regulations in Germany. The vast majority of “attendees” did so by viewing one of the many broadcasts that Gamescom livestreamed during the week-long event. This year, Gamescom is promising another hybrid event with more physical attendees than last--although, still not as many as 2019.

In an interview with Venture Beat, Gamescom co-organizer Felix Falk said that Games won't sell as many tickets as 2019's record-setting year of 370,000, but it will still be the "world's largest game expo."

“So the event is basically the best of two worlds from 2019,” Falk said. “It has all the digital parts we developed in the last two years. We have COVID measures already in mind, and because we have six months to go we are looking to the measures that we will have at the end of August. There is still time, but we will decide some things. We are very confident that, together with some measures we already have in place, we can get a really nice Gamescom atmosphere and feeling back.”

Happy to announce I have signed a new deal to continue producing and hosting @gamescom Opening Night Live.

We will see you back live in Cologne, Germany on Tuesday, August 23. pic.twitter.com/kQVd73s8zP

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) March 10, 2022

As with previous years, Gamescom will begin with Devcom from August 22 to August 23. After that, Gamescom will host a press-only day on August 24. General admission will run from August 25 to August 28.

Falk didn't indicate what the general admission ticket cap will be but did say that "we are not we’re not trying to get the next record. It will have a great atmosphere, but not too many people.”

As with last year, Gamescom 2022 will also have a number of livestream broadcasts. Geoff Keighley will host Opening Night Live once again, with the in-person presentation broadcast live to the world. Awesome Indies is also set to return, as well as presentations from other publishers.

Although regulations have relaxed somewhat as the pandemic wanes, safety rules will likely still require proof of vaccination for all physical attendees. Mask mandates are also in place outside of eating and drinking areas.

Posted: Mar 13, 2022 11:07 am
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.thegamer.com/gamescom-2022-in-person/