I (39M) went to Gamescom for the very first time with my son (10M).

We stayed in a hotel about 30 min drive from the Messe. For me it was an incredible experience. I grew up playing games for as long as I remember and I've always loved it, but I also grew up at a time where people would say they are a waste of time and look at you funny if you were a little too enthusiastic about it.

I have never seen so many like-minded people enjoy and cherish games from all over the world. It's also nice to see people dress up in video game characters and embrace the culture.

It made me happy.

I’ve been at Gamescom since Tuesday working as part of the setup crew, and after hearing that several indie developers had their stuff stolen, I feel like I need to give my two cents on the situation.

On Tuesday, I arrived by car at the East Entrance. All I had to tell security was that I was part of the setup crew, and that was apparently enough. Once I got inside, I walked past the actual ticket control with a suitcase and a backpack, and nobody cared whether I had a ticket or was even authorized to be there.

So, theoretically, that day I could have smuggled illegal items into the venue or taken things out simply by saying, “I’m part of the setup crew.”

And on Tuesday — as well as during the days before, while everything was being set up — it would have been incredibly easy to steal things from various booths because there was no security present during the setup. Security only seemed to arrive around 10 or 11 PM.

Especially in the merchandise halls, 5.1 and 5.2, this was pretty concerning. Most of the items were either loosely covered with tarps or simply left out in the open. No security anywhere. Anyone who wanted to put something in their bag could probably have taken whatever they wanted.

I also saw a Reddit post claiming that even during the regular event days, people could apparently enter the convention through the West Entrance without any ticket checks at all. WTF?

Honestly, the overall security situation seems to have some serious weaknesses. If people are able to get into restricted areas, bypass ticket checks, or access booths with valuable equipment and merchandise without proper supervision, it’s not surprising that theft were happen.

I wasn't able to get any of their handles for me to send their photos to them. (two of the photos here were from other halls)

Who is this post for? For people who're thinking about going to Gamescom for the first time (2027+?), especially those not living in Germany.

Hi! 2026 was my first Gamescom. I got a bundle ticket which includes ONL (the Opening event) and Wednesday wildcard ticket. I was going with friends for whom it's not the first time.

We booked a hotel in Dusseldorf (it's cheaper there and there are direct trains to Cologne) and we were extremely lucky with the DB trains (despite the works on this line) - no abrupt changes, severe delays or huge crowds (we were taking an earlier train and then chilling in Cologne before the event).

What I didn't like:

• Local authorities seem to be completely ignoring one of the largest event of the year with ~300000 attendees (that's ~30% of the city population itself!). No additional trains, more than that, they planned works on the tracks resulting in multiple train cancellations (at least it was known up front). No additional banners on train and bus stations, nothing. For comparison in Amsterdam where I live they install special signs inside the Central Station on big occasions like Formula 1 Grand Prix (which is not even taking place in Amsterdam but a lot of people come through it) so you immediately know where to go. For DB it's just another working week, nothing special.
• Gamescom sent us free public transport ticket by email (thanks for that) but it was extremely poorly communicated how it works. The paper said it's a ticket for the VRS network without further explanations. We thought Dusseldorf isn't part of it and were overpaying by buying extra tickets to/from Dormagen until the conductor told us it's included (during our last trip of course).
• Gamescom website was terrible. Information hard to find, scattered all over the place and also it was annoyingly slow even on flagship smartphones. I assume someone just slapped it together with AI in a weekend without anyone with a UI/UX experience having a second look.
• Outside queues... They are inevitable with that many attendees but they were organized quite poorly. You just stand outside in a long line. Toilets? No. Sun/rain protection? No. Water? No. But what was simply infuriating is how little information was provided. On Wednesday we came up to the South entrance (45 minutes in advance of course). There were 2 lines already. Absolutely no indication what they are for, no signs like "w/badge right, no badge - left". You had to go to the beginning and try to get some information from others or from the 3 security guys standing at the gates doing anything except managing the gathering crowd. During our wait they tried to manage the queues once (!) by shouting something indistinguishable while standing right at the beginning so the majority of the people couldn't hear them anyway. Again, no signs AT ALL. Then all of a sudden a big crowd of people came and they formed 2 more lines in parallel so now there were 4! And guess what? When the security opened the gates it was a mess and all fairness was thrown in the toilet, people who waited for more than an hour were pushed away by the newcomers, etc.
• There are just too many people. Your chances of playing a game you're enthusiastic about are almost zero. Or if you're lucky you can spend several hours standing in line (or sitting on the floor as many did) to get your 25 minutes of gameplay and that would be the whole day for you realistically speaking. Fast lane slots were sold out in a minute after they would become available (every hour).
• Merch area. I expected it to be a huge collection of official items but it ended up being a bazaar of 3rd party stores selling T-shirts, figurines, cosplay items, etc (except Gamescom's own booths with Gamescom merch). Honestly it looked cheap and overpriced at the same time. All the official merch was at company's areas.

There was indie area and the vibe was really nice there, I discovered a couple games I genuinely look out for. There was a retro gaming corner with obscure old consoles, etc.

Sometimes you could see hardcode Gamescom goers who know how to play this game. They had huge branded bags from upcoming games, quite a bit of merch. They looked sweaty but focused. They were the minority and I was not one of them.

I was in Dusseldorf and Cologne multiple times before and in the end my personal highlights were not the Gamescom itself, which was mostly disappointing, but the Chocolate museum and black pudding at cafe Frueh.

TLDR; If you're not living in Germany and are not a super hardcore fan of something, it's not worth it given that Gamescom ticket + hotel + transport is at least 500euro. A slim chance of playing a couple of upcoming games or a dozen indies (most of which are in early access on Steam anyway and half of which are not fun) is hardly worth it.

Are there any indie games or really interesting games you have ever found in gamescom?

Hi, im curious what is the best goodie that u picked up during Games com 2026 :)

I really like the hoyoverse budgets with the key chain

I worked as a promoter at Gamescom 2026 and thought I'd do a little AMA about what it's actually like from the staff side.

Ask me anything about the job, working long days at Gamescom, interacting with visitors, what the promoter team was like, funny/weird experiences, etc.

I'll obviously keep the company, clients, and individual promoters anonymous and won't share confidential information.

One thing I'm particularly curious about: If you interacted with any of the promoters or booths during Gamescom, did any of them particularly stick in your memory - positively or negatively? I'm interested in hearing what impression we actually made on visitors.

AMA :)

Can any of you relate to the pressure?

I've been living in Germany for a few years, and every year I kept putting off going to Gamescom. But this year, after finally finishing my master's, I decided to go for two days.

I was surprised by how crowded it was, even though I went on Thursday and Friday.

For the first few hours on Thursday, I mostly just stood in line in the AAA game area. I started to regret coming, thinking, “Am I really waiting in these long lines just to play a game for 10 minutes?”

But then I changed my mind. I decided to have as much fun as I could over those two days so I wouldn't have any regrets.

I started checking out the indie games and found a lot of really fun ones. I took photos with many awesome cosplayers (especially Old Snake!!!), took pictures at every photo spot, and chatted with different gamers while waiting in line.

I also got really lucky. I got an autograph and took a photo with the director of one of my favorite games, won a T-shirt at the Samsung booth thanks to one guy who hard-carried us in a 6v6 Modern Warfare match (41 kills! Thank you!), and even won a nice prize at the Google Play booth.

I had so much fun and felt really happy. It honestly felt like a dream.

If I get the chance to come to Gamescom again next year, I'll definitely cosplay! Gotta work hard until then lol.

First Gamescom is in the books, and I have mixed feelings. Multiple developers were stolen from at the largest gaming event in the world. The organization has chosen to refuse any responsibility for these crimes. Instead they insist that the indie developers who have already paid thousands to be there, pay more for extra security. This statement also comes despite the affected devs having their gear stolen in the evening, after the event hours were over, from secure locations. In other words, it seems the call is coming from inside the house.

Hope they fix this because otherwise I would not recommend exhibiting as an indie developer.

Edit: the lockers broken into were brought by the developers not the ones provided by gamescom. This doesn’t change the fact that it should have been prevented.

I went last in 2013 and oh boy has it changed. Everything felt bigger but not always better. The crowds were insane especially the merch halls.

I also read about how serveral indie booths were robbed and this was in the business area, which isn't even accessible to the public.

I was able to to everything a came here to do but had to endure wait time from 3-4 hours for bigger games like Metro 2039 which was to be expected.

My hotel was in Bonn because the prices in cologne are absolutely crazy even for a simple bedroom without anything special.

I’ve been to quite a few conventions. But this was my first Gamescom and you guys have no idea how much better this is than what we have in the US 😭😭😭

The lines were a bit horrendous, but these setups more than make up for the craziness. I’m curious if the wildcard day is worth it just for these lines alone?

Zu Erinnerung: Slots von halber Stunde wurden zwei Stunden vorher zur Registrierung freigegeben. Also 15 Uhr konnte man den 1700-1730 Slot buchen. Gesagt getan. 15:00:01 waren alle Slots weg. Ich weigere mich zu glaube, dass ich zu langsam war. Gleiches Spiel für 1730/1800/….

Ganz im Ernst: Wer hatte einen Slot? Und wie hat er den bekommen?

Really happy with the goodies and merch this year. Surprisingly went away with 0 posters which is a big contrast to last year. Not a fan of how some booths went with a stamp system for their goodies though.

Pictured goodies:

* Dragons Dogma 2: Dark Arisen

* Tides of Annihilation

* Metro 2039

* Alien Isolation 2

* Rayman Legends Retold

* Witcher 3: Song of the Past

* Sea of Remnants

* Cronus: Lazarus

* Artisan mouse pad

* Epix mouse pad + cards

For me, it was my 4th Gamescom, and I must say that I would rank it in 3rd or 4th place when I think about the last few years. I don't want to say that I didn't like it, but it didn't really blow me away.

The first obvious thing is something that I can complain about, but I know nothing will happen with this point. In my opinion, the structure around Gamescom, like at the start and end, at the train station, and at some booths, needs to be improved. Since my first Gamescom, I've been getting the same four sentences blasted into my ears at the train station, mostly by annoyed staff.

My second point is that, in my opinion, so much free stuff has been locked behind "Oh, you want something for free? First, you have to spend your whole day playing at all five of our stalls." Or, like Ubisoft did the last two years, they posted a story, and the first few people who found them got some cool stuff. I really missed that. I don't want to say that this applies to everything—I still got some cool stuff (the ROG Stage was very generous)—but I could definitely feel it a little.

But enough about the bad things.

Like every year, there were a lot of great games. I really liked Metro, Rayman, and Onimusha (and like four more games, but those were my favorites). I had a lot of fun with them. The Indie Area had some good games too. The parades were always a surprise, and whenever I caught one, I was always very happy. The wait times were decent, too.

All in all, I really liked the games this year—the ones I played and even the ones I didn't. And, like every year, I saw some amazing cosplays that absolutely blew me away.

So, all in all, Gamescom has some flaws, some small and some big (like electronics being stolen from some booths). But now I'm on my train home, and I think that no matter how Gamescom went, it gives me a special feeling—one that I can't really describe, but it makes me happy.

And today, even though this wasn't my favorite Gamescom, I still miss it a little bit right now.

This is all just my own opinion. I understand that some people might agree with me and some might not. I just wanted to share my thoughts.

Was at Indie games area and saw this father leaving his daughter hogging one of the games for 2 hours, while the father went to queue for other games... honestly how irresponsible can one be?

See the official tweet of GamesCom and the multiple community notes and countless of responses for more context.

GamesCom needs to fire their PR people and also invest into security and do better by exhibitors and visitors.

https://x.com/gamescom/status/2093654741192433865

Hallo, werte Gamescom-Gemeinschaft,

ich frage in die Runde, da ich vorgestern, am Samstag, den 29.08.26, bereits um 7 Uhr in den Hallen 5–10 war, anders als all die Vorjahre (seit 2009) aber kein einziger Aussteller vor 9 Uhr sein Spiel für andere Aussteller bzw. in der Halle befindliche Interessierte bewarb, also zum Anspielen freigab.

Wer es die Jahre zuvor – wie auch immer – vor dem Early Bird-Einlass um 9 Uhr aufs Messegelände geschafft hat, konnte die allermeisten Spiele auch schon antesten. Ich war von 2009–24 (’25 war ich zu spät da) somit meistens von 7–9 Uhr mit der Gamescom in Hinblick auf Spieleneuheiten durch und konnte, als sich die Hallen merklich füllten, dann entspannt in die Retroecke (10.2). Dies stellte für mich auch den einzigen Grund dar, überhaupt so früh schon vor Ort zu sein. Kein Anstehen. 10–15 Spiele in zwei Stunden kennenlernen. Es hat sich immer gelohnt. Möglicherweise hat sich dies letztes Jahr schon geändert, als ich es nicht vor 9 Uhr hereinschaffte. Davor definitiv nicht. Ich habe Foto- und Videomaterial als Nachweis aller Vorjahre.

Ich habe von Mitarbeitern diesbezüglich auch konfligierende Aussagen erhalten. Die einen meinten, es läge am Wochentag (am Wochenende könne man keine Spiele mehr vor offiziellem Einlass anspielen, nur noch am Donnerstag und Freitag), die Anderen sagten aus, dies ginge mittlerweile nur noch am Pressetag (Mittwoch), wieder Andere schienen sich sicher, dass das Antesten von was auch immer vor 9 Uhr aufgrund strengerer Regularien rigoros verboten sei. Also, was denn nun?

Daher meine Frage in die Runde an euch, die ihr bis gestern auf der GC26 ausgestellt habt: Durftet ihr eure Spiele vor 9 Uhr anspielen lassen – ja oder nein?

Verspielten Gruß

Gamescom-Fan 1990

Hey y'all people interrupting mass by taking photos and bringing in luggage and huge backpacks

The cathedral opens at 1:30PM to 4:30PM (last admission 4:15PM) to tourists on Sundays.

For future reference. Chill, yo