Gamescom goes hybrid for forthcoming 2022 event
European gaming convention Gamescom has announced its return in 2022, set to take place in the German city of Cologne.
The event organizers announced, that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s event will be different as Gamescom will be an in-person and online hybrid event.
According to the organizers, Gamescom has tested a hygiene and safety concept to ensure it follows current regulations and ensures high quality of stay. The event also promises “additional sections, including for cosplay, retro, and indie fans”.
GAME’s managing director Felix Falk detailed what the hybrid-format event will look like.
“All Gamescom fans and partners have been waiting for this for two years: Gamescom is finally returning to the Cologne exhibition halls, and thus also the unique festival feeling we had all been missing so much.
“This year we are combining the best of both worlds: our extensive digital program with the incomparable Gamescom experience on-site. In the process, Gamescom is also once again setting new standards in 2022, for example, in matters of sustainability: with our ‘Gamescom goes green’ initiative, we will make Gamescom a special and climate-friendly event together with visitors and exhibitors.
“We thus want to not only be a lighthouse for the many initiatives for environmental protection and climate action in the international games industry, but also a pioneer for international events in general.”
Gamescom has been hosted as an online event since 2020 due to the ongoing pandemic. Plans for 2021’s event were to turn Gamescom into a hybrid event but later returned to the strictly online format.
Gamescom is set to take place in the Koelnmesse Convention Centre from Aug. 24 to 28, with an opening night live presentation set to take place on Aug. 23.