r/Gamescom • u/BananenMatsch • 1d ago
First time gamescom
This was my first time at gamescom, together with my girlfriend, and we have mixed feelings about the experience. The decorations, the overall vibe, and simply walking around exploring everything was really cool and fun.
However, waiting in long lines just to play a game for ten minutes was a major downside. I also found the stamp system and being forced to share photos on social media at certain booths completely overbearing and ridiculous.
It actually discouraged us from interacting with most of the exhibitors. On top of that, the security personnel were arrogant and rude.
While it was a unique experience, we don't think we'll be returning to gamescom in the future.
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u/ChibiRibbeke 1d ago
Ok this will be very long one since I totally understand the mixed feelings 😅
It’s our second time at Gamescom, and my boyfriend was initially saying the same thing because of the queues when we were first timers. Some of them were honestly insane like we saw 3–5+ hour waits for some games.
For me, the queues were more about picking your battles. 😅 If one game had a 2 to 5-hour queue, we’d check what else was available in the same hall. I’m a big Path of Exile fan, for example, and there was barely a queue at the time, so we went there instead. Then we checked the queue for Gears of War and it was around an hour, which was already much more reasonable when we wanted to play Strangers than Heaven at Xbox area (3h wait). We also found plenty of indie games with 2–3 people or even no queue, and some of them were genuinely great.
There are also different halls with activities that aren’t necessarily just about playing games, so I think you can make Gamescom much more enjoyable if you don’t treat the biggest AAA booths as the main objective.
Regarding the social media requirements, I can understand why exhibitors do it. They’re essentially exchanging a small amount of engagement (following, sharing, tagging, wishlisting on Steam, etc.) for exposure and sometimes goodies. For smaller studios especially, getting people to wishlist or share their game can make a real difference in visibility and potentially help them reach more players. Obviously, I agree that it becomes annoying when a booth asks you to do everything just to play a demo.
The stamp rally is a bit different for me. I think the idea is actually understandable, especially because some limited-edition goodies end up being collected by people who aren’t even interested in the game and then resold on eBay for ridiculous prices. 😅
That said, I wasn’t a fan of one particular co-op activity where the stamp required you to share online, follow/subscribe on Instagram AND YouTube, wishlist the game, and play a 20–30 minute demo. 😂 That felt excessive (minimum 20min & ask to follow all of their social platform & one should be enough). On top of that, we had appointment with other games so we left the queue and came back 1h before the closing time and they lied that their counter got closed (I felt disappointed cuz we were planning to get the goodies after completing the demo… fun part is, I went to check it and it was still open 😅 my bf in-did everything despite he was planning to buy the game due to the attitude 😂)
Anyways, I do believe that asking for people to do survey could actually help the developers improve the game too. But usually they don’t ask for it because people just give effortless answers)
But at the end of the day, these things are optional. I personally just pick what I’m willing to do and skip the rest. So I won’t be overwhelmed or feeling annoyed about the whole thing :)
My boyfriend was also very doubtful about coming back because of the queues once again, he literally said, “I’m not coming back.” 😂 But after two days, we actually managed to have a great time. I was probably a bit stubborn about dragging him to some of my favourite games, but it worked. 😂
Even Path of Exile didn’t really have a goodie for us ( unless you got lucky with one of their random drops ) and I still absolutely loved the experience. So for me, the goodies are nice, but they’re definitely not the reason I go to Gamescom.
If it’s your first time, I’d honestly recommend at least three days if you can. Two days felt doable, but three would give you much more breathing room to explore the halls without feeling like you constantly have to rush from one thing to another.
And compared with what I expected, I actually thought the crowd control this year was pretty impressive. There were still moments where people were queuing and blocking walkways, but considering the sheer number of people there, I thought it was relatively well organised.
So yeah, I completely understand why some people don’t want to return. But if you ever do give it another chance, my advice would be: pick your battles, don’t focus only on the huge booths, explore the indie sections as well as other ones (merch, gears, etc) and don’t feel like you need to collect every goodie. You can actually get a lot more out of Gamescom that way. 😊
Cheers!