This article was originally published on February 20, 2026 - read the full issue

By Patrick Garratt

Gamescom's first event of the year, the newly renamed Gamescom Dev Leadership Summit, will take place in central Lisbon next week at the upmarket Sud Lisboa Hall. The exclusive show excludes all except C-suite executives, founders or other similarly senior game industry decision-makers. This third Leadership Summit, the official site tells us, is a "secure, NDA-protected environment" that "offers a confidential and collaborative space where top-level professionals can connect, share insights, and address critical industry challenges without the pressures of public scrutiny."

And that means no press.

While the idea of a Davos-style game industry executive forum ostensibly opposes a current sentiment of unionisation and job protection among developers, Lars Janssen (CEO at Deck 13 and chairman of the board at game – the German Games Industry Association that's behind Gamescom) tells us that this type of event is needed for the good of all.

"The Leadership Summit right now plays an important role, since we're seeing rapid industry change at the moment," he says.

"What we're lacking is a bit of a shared understanding at a leadership level. We don't want to let leaders have to navigate this alone. We want to support them."

The closed format, Janssen says, is essential to the summit's utility.

"From my point of view, an intimate leadership format like this one can only work if it's curated around disagreement rather than consensus. Otherwise it becomes an echo chamber. And that's only possible if we have a group of leaders in there that feel as though they're in a safe space.

"They're in an environment where they can openly share their challenges, where they can talk about it without being afraid that everything is instantly public."

Top-tier challenges

Providing a framework in which industry leaders can candidly unpick contemporary challenges, such as funding and generative AI, has taken on a critical importance, says Janssen.

"Many of the hardest problems we're facing today are not necessarily creative or technical any more. They're systemic challenges. That's why I think leadership is such a decisive factor. It's about being resilient," he tells us.

"That's one of the things we can see with everything that's been going on in the industry over the past couple of years. How do you build your games company, whether it's a studio, publisher or somewhere else in the ecosystem, to make it through these challenges? I think it's something that many of the companies in Europe have been particularly good at."

All eyes on GDC

Access aside, the regional issue can no longer be ignored when discussing the current state of game development conferences in general.

Next week's Leadership Summit is not, of course, the only Gamescom Dev event, but rather a precursor to the main conference on August 23-25 in Cologne, which leads directly into Gamescom 2026. This year's show is taking place in the shadow of a GDC facing an unprecedented set of circumstances, as many outside the US have decided against attending due to concerns around travel. More than a third of non-American respondents to GDC's annual survey this year said they won't make the trip to California next month because of issues related to immigration and gender politics. While the American conference is by far the largest of its type in the world, with around 30,000 attendees in 2025 (compared to Gamescom Dev's 5,000-6,000 last year), the approach to this year's GDC has been concerning.

"It's a bit difficult for me to answer," Janssen says when we ask how a lower GDC attendance could affect this year's main Gamescom Dev conference.

"I think the entire industry is very thankful for GDC, and I do believe a strong GDC is good for all of us. We're not positioning any of our events, whether it's the Leadership Summit or Gamescom Dev, to be the alternative to GDC.

"Saying that, we're also well aware that there are people that have concerns about traveling right now. And we acknowledge that. But what we build is an offering for people in Europe, starting from within Europe."

The unique regional perspective provided by Gamescom and Gamescom Dev is useful to the global industry, says Janssen, but it's an addition to the GDC experience, not a substitute.

"I do hope that all the other events out there, including GDC, find their vision going forward," he adds.

Rebranding for the future

Gamescom Dev is certainly working hard to find its own path. Having rebranded last summer to bring Devcom more closely in line with Gamescom's identity, the Leadership Summit in Lisbon next week will be the first to adopt the new brand.

"The rebranding from Devcom to Gamescom Dev is really to show the strong connection [with] Gamescom and also our satellites in Asia and Brazil. It makes it very clear that our developer offering is part of that.

"With Gamescom, we've built the largest games event in the world. And we want to make sure that there's a lot of positive benefit for people going to Gamescom and Gamescom Dev, that they have the full experience. It was more logical. It's not a revolution per se."

And as for the newly named Gamescom Dev Leadership Summit, this third iteration locks the event into the organisers' foreseeable future.

"It's not an experiment," says Janssen. "It's a key part of our schedule going forward. As to how we expand it or if we expand it, it really depends on whether we hit the mark. When you start something like this, you get a sense of what's actually needed. We've been fine-tuning it over the first two years, and I do believe that this one is really going to provide benefits for the attendees.

"Are we going to grow it to 1,000 people at some point? Probably not. Because ultimately it's supposed to be a forum where people in similar roles can exchange candidly."

This article was originally published on February 20, 2026 - read the full issue