This article was originally published on August 21, 2026 - read the full issue

By Patrick Garratt

Gamescom 2026 is already breaking records. For the first time in the show's history, the exhibition floor at Koelnmesse is completely booked out, with organisers confirming this week that more than 1,600 exhibitors from 67 countries will attend the show, up from 1,568 in 2025.

While bookings are up, exhibition space sits at 233,000 square metres this year, identical to 2025's total: the show itself remains the same size.

"Being sold out for the first time is of course great news for us," Tim Endres, director gamescom at Koelnmesse, tells Knowledge. "For me, the important point is what it means behind the number. We have more exhibitors than ever before, more studios and publishers who want to meet their communities, get direct feedback and build relationships. That shows the industry is still looking ahead."

Total sellout

The Gamescom indie area has grown 16 per cent year-on-year to more than 420 companies, an all-time high, and the country pavilion programme has expanded from 40 countries last year to 47. Endres is wary of reading the triple-A-versus-indie split as a contest for space.

"Different games need a different approach at gamescom," he says. "The triple-A publishers create huge, spectacular booths, and the entertainment area alone has four-and-a-half halls full of them, so the indie area looks much smaller on the whole plan. They naturally work with smaller budgets, so we offer formats that fit their needs. We don't prioritise anyone or any specific sector – we just try to give everyone the best platform, and stronger demand each year shows we're succeeding."

Koelnmesse's gigantic site still has space left beyond Gamescom's current footprint, running to more than 280,000 square metres against this year's 233,000. Endres confirms 2027 expansion plans are already under way, though he isn't ready to detail them.

"We are actively working on ways to expand the event in 2027," he says. "I'm not yet able to talk about it. When the picture becomes clearer, we will share it, but it will take some time. There's going to be great news."

"One connected journey"

This is the first year that developer conference Gamescom Dev, previously titled Devcom, has been fully folded into the main show. This year's B2B event is to include 230 sessions and in the region of 380 speakers across 18 stages, with two new AI-focused tracks.

"The integration is really about one simple idea: developers are a core part of Gamescom, not something separate," Endres explains.

"The conference has been closely connected to Gamescom for many years, also as Devcom, so the rebranding was a natural step. What's new starting in 2026 is that attendees can really feel it: shared accreditation for journalists, stronger integration into the Gamescom B2B app, shared stages and networking infrastructure, and combined five-day business tickets for the whole week. Gamescom is becoming one connected journey from Monday onwards."

Does Koelnmesse's own closed-door executive event, the Gamescom Dev Leadership Summit in Lisbon each February, mean deal-making has migrated there while the Cologne version becomes a GDC-alike? Endres rejects the idea.

"We never clone anything," he says. "Lisbon is about 200 people. At Gamescom Dev, it's several thousand, and combined with the Gamescom business area we're talking about more than 30,000 business people doing business in Cologne. There's nothing which is really comparable. Lisbon is more about valuable contact with specific people, and finding out how we can improve the concept for Gamescom."

The world comes to Cologne

Gamescom is about more than Germany, of course, with regional events now well entrenched. Gamescom Asia runs alongside Thailand Game Show in Bangkok, and Gamescom Latam continues to grow in Sao Paulo.

"Gamescom is definitely global. Cologne is the home base," Endres says. "Not everyone from the industry can come to Cologne every year, so we started regional editions. Bangkok looks pretty good this year, and Sao Paulo is growing too. They build bridges to Cologne, and that means more awareness of Gamescom than before. Last year we had the highest growth in trade visitors from Canada, Japan, Southeast Asia and Latin America."

That pull is visible in Gamescom's Chinese and Korean exhibitor list, with Tencent, HoYoverse, Level Infinite, Krafton and NetEase all present – growth Endres puts down to both strategy and organic demand.

"It's kind of both," he says. "Japan and Japanese games have been part of Gamescom for many years, and what feels a bit different now is the stronger participation from other Asian markets, especially China and Korea. Gamescom is a gateway to international audiences for those studios and publishers, who can reach fans in Europe on-site and through our digital reach, and get direct feedback from a global community, sometimes feedback that even influences the development of a game."

Underpinning it all is a physical-digital hybrid model built since 2019, which saw the launching of Opening Night Live: last year's show, presented by Geoff Keighley, drew around 100 million streams. Regardless of the online component, though, Endres, who has been with Gamescom since it began in 2008 as a show of 400 exhibitors and just over 200,000 visitors, sees this year's sellout as confirmation that the physical show still matters.

"What we see is this constantly rising number of exhibitors," he says. "If you look at the different sectors, triple-A or indie, you see growth everywhere. That shows physical events like Gamescom, especially combined with the hybrid approach, are still very much relevant."

This article was originally published on August 21, 2026 - read the full issue