Ok, In reality, it was 90 km — but since I was with my wife, together we did indeed cover that distance!
August was packed with events for us. It all started with the Baltic’s comic-con, you can read about in a separate report about Unicon. And the very next day we headed straight to Cologne for Devcom. Right after that, Gamescom kicked off, making it a 9-day long video game and geek tour for us!
Gamescom 2024: My Visit to the World’s Largest Gaming Exhibition
The Gamescom 2024 exhibition, held from 21 to 25 August in Cologne, once again proved its status as the main event in the world of video games. This year, it attracted over 335,000 visitors and gathered 1,400 participants from 64 countries.
Since its inception in 2009, Gamescom has grown steadily, and not even the COVID-19 pandemic could halt its progress. After a temporary pause due to lockdowns, the exhibition has returned to its pre-pandemic attendance levels, marking a huge success for the organizers.
Together, my wife and I walked over 200,000 steps during these days. We captured dozen gigabytes of photos and video materials and conducted 23 interviews. I’m now busy sorting through all the content, so stay tuned as I’ll be posting news, interviews, and other materials in the coming days.
It’s important to note that some photos may give the impression that the exhibition was less crowded. This is because I specifically took photos of the booths an hour before the event opened to avoid the crowds and focus on the exhibitions themselves. Most of our time, however, was spent in the business and exhibitor zones, where I conducted interviews.
Exploring Gamescom 2024: Highlights and Key Moments
For me this year, one of the exhibition’s highlights was an additional day dedicated to cosplayers. I stayed to photograph participants in their impressive costumes, and I will soon publish a separate post with all the details.
Like always, a massive hall dedicated to merchandise and loot. Two floors were filled with beautiful collectible items, which I will also cover in a separate post.
However, I noticed fewer booths dedicated to hardware and peripherals this time. Instead, the hall 10 that usually hosted these exhibits was filled with large gaming stands from lesser-known developers. These were just as impressive in size and presentation as those from giants like Blizzard, Capcom, and Nintendo. This shift indicates that the exhibition space is continually expanding. Perhaps next year, we will see even more halls.
Particular attention was drawn to the Xbox stand, which truly outdid itself this year. Teaming up with Activision-Blizzard, they presented an entire ‘block’ of booths. This was a true cluster, rivaling the scale of exhibitors like Ubisoft or Pearl Abyss.
And now, I invite you to browse through my photo gallery and enjoy the visual report from Gamescom 2024!
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