gamescom 2023: Welcome to Cologne!
"World Class Games" is the theme for the 15th gamescom which is being held in Cologne from 23 to 27 August. Following the Opening Night Live on 22 August, NRW’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst will officially open the world’s largest trade fair for digital games culture together with Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck on 23 August. The innovations for 2023 include the "gamescom invest circle" pitching event bringing young companies from the games industry together with investors. The main focus will be on serious games and streaming.
The week’s events in chronological order:
devcom (21.-22.08.)
The official event for the game developer community will be held ahead of gamescom at the Kongress Center Ost. Game developers will have an opportunity at Europe’s biggest conference for game developers to expand their knowledge and contacts at various talks, fireside chats and workshops.
gamescom (22.-27.08.)
The 15th edition of gamescom is breaking all the records in 2023 with a showfloor of more than 230,000 square metres and international exhibitors making up 78% of the stands. Cologne remains the meeting place for the international gaming community with such companies as Aerosoft, Amazon Games / Prime, Astragon Entertainment, Microsoft / Xbox / Bethesda, Nintendo, SEGA, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. National and international independent game developers will present their works at the Indie Arena Booth. The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and the Indie Arena Booth are supporting five games companies from NRW to introduce themselves and pitch their projects to an audience of investors, the press and consumers. The games "Fall of Porcupine", "Growth", "Super Catboy", "Tiny Bookshop" and "We Stay Behind" will be presented here.
www.gamescom.de | www.indiearenabooth.de
NRW@gamescom (23.-25.08.)
NRW will showcase its activities again on an umbrella stand in the Business Area (Hall 04.1, Stand A061g – B070g), which is being organised by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. The partners are KölnBusiness, Creative Europe Desk NRW, Fusion Campus, games.nrw and the Mediengründerzentrum.NRW. The partners will be hosting the "Welcome to NRW!" Get-Together on Wednesday, 23 August. NRW’s Media Minister Nathanael Liminski will welcome the guests.
Events at the "Welcome to NRW!" stand
A total of 10 indie game developers will be presenting their games in the Gaming Area at the NRW stand from 23 to 25 August. On Wednesday, 23 August, KölnBusiness joins forces with Zenit to hold a meet-up with European games companies ahead of the NRW Get-Together. On Thursday, 24 August, the stand hosts the “NRW meets Benelux” networking event organised by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW in cooperation with Creative Europe Desk NRW. A special highlight that afternoon will see Dennis Papirowski (Head of Gaming Operations Germany at TikTok) giving an insight into "Gaming on TikTok". The session will focus on opportunities for indie developers and gamers on the platform. On Friday, 25 August, there will be a networking event from games.nrw, and #FemDevsMeetup will host another networking event and talk at the NRW stand staged in cooperation with Creative Europe Desk NRW. The event is aimed at women, marginalised groups and interested parties.
Meet Your Neighbours (24.08.)
European developers and publishers will meet for speed meetings at the Creative Europe MEDIA stand (Hall 3.2). Participants from NRW, Berlin-Brandenburg, France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Spain and Hungary will have the opportunity here to find potential partners.
gamescom congress (24.08.)
What do games do for learning, healthcare, technological innovation or cultural discourse? The gamescom congress is Europe’s leading conference on the potential of computer and video games in society and business and addresses guests far beyond the games industry. The congress is organised by Koelnmesse and game e.V., the German Games Industry Association. One highlight will be the Debatt(l)e Royale with politicians Emily Büning (Federal Executive Director, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen), Bijan Djir-Sarai (Secretary General, FDP), Franziska Giffey (SPD Berlin Senator for Economic Affairs, Energy and Industry and Chair of the SPD party in Berlin) and Nathanael Liminski (Minister for Federal and European Affairs, International Affairs and Media of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and Head of the State Chancellery).
"Germany loves Games-Reception" (24.08.)
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, in cooperation with game – German Games Industry Association and Games Germany, the association of regional funders of games and network institutions, invites you to a reception at 5.30 pm.
Information about the events at: www.filmstiftung.de