Editorial
We have been covering gamescom for 15 years and have therefore experienced at first hand how it has developed from a classic order fair and innovation show to a multimedia 360-degree industry event with a global audience.
And that is precisely the secret of gamescom's success. It doesn‘t stand still. It follows the trends. And above all, it goes hand in hand with the industry. The reward is a further increase in numbers in the third year after the coronavirus-induced break. Even though the total number of visitors has not yet reached the record year of 2019, in many other key figures, gamescom 2024 has overtaken its predecessor events. This applies above all to the number of exhibitors, the proportion of international exhibitors and the number of trade visitors. This success shows how strongly the trade fair is not only anchored in the German business, but also throughout Europe and increasingly globally. It is no coincidence that Koelnmesse and game have identified the greatest growth in trade visitors from North America and Asia. This is also evident from the fact that the gaps left by the absence of some Western publishers could easily be filled by emerging players from Asia.
This is the new reality of the games industry: innovations in gaming have long since ceased to come only from Japan and the USA. China, in particular, is only just beginning to emerge as a creative pool in gaming. Successes like Black Myth: Wukong will soon be the rule rather than the exception. In the hardware sector, too, manufacturers no longer come only from Japan and the USA. The new Pico 4 Ultra is undoubtedly one of the top XR headsets and another hope that the mixed reality market will ignite the next stage of growth.
The third major topic of this issue seems very German, or rather, GSA-like. Simulations are one of the genres in which studios from GSA are particularly
successful. But this success has also long since spread internationally. That‘s
why we‘re having a closer look at the genre. Dear readers, I hope you enjoy the current issue of GamesMarkt.
Stephan Steininger
Content
03 EDITORIAL
06 BIG PICTURE
08 PEOPLE
Heads and headlines that have caused a stir in the games industry in the recent weeks.
GAMESCOM REVIEW
14 GAMESCOM RÉSUMÉ
This year‘s gamescom showed its talent to grow and develop together with the industry in numbers and in flair.
22 DEVCOM RÉSUMÉ
The developer conference has set itself up for growth and success in its new Confex location.
26 DEVCOM EXPERIENCE
Guest author Malte Behrmann looks back on some of the strongest talks of devcom 2024.
28 CONGRESS RÉSUMÉ
Profiting from the Confex, a bigger audience and strong political engagement, gamescom congress 2024 has broken all records.
32 PEOPLE GALLERY
The Who-is-Who of the GSA and international games industry at gamescom 2024, gathered in the huge GamesMarkt picture gallery.
PICO XR
40 PICO 4 ULTRA
With its upgrade on their Pico 4 goggles, the international company wants to take on the competition. The big focus: MR.
48 HEADSET COMPARISON
From Meta Quest 3 to Pico‘s own 4 Ultra, which VR/MR goggles are how good? We draw the technical comparison.
50 PICO INTERVIEW
We spoke to Ross Holt, Pico‘s Head of Consumer EMEA, and Xikun Hu, Pico 4 Ultra Product Manager, about the future direction of XR.
SIMULATION GAMES
54 GSA SIMULATION MARKET
Germany, Austria and Switzerland are absolute powerhouses in producing simulation games. We have collected the key players.
60 AEROSOFT OVERVIEW
The company‘s move to funnel user identification into two brands has proven successful.
64 ASTRAGON X GIANTS
The co-operation between the two companies, and their own ambitions, are well on the way.
66 FARMING SIMULATOR 25
68 POLICE SIMULATOR: PATROL OFFICERS
70 HEAVY CARGO – THE TRUCK SIMULATOR
72 EVEN MORE SIMULATION GAMES
74 IMPRINT
74 EVENTS
Download Issue 465
Subscribers also have access to old print editions of GamesMarkt in PDF format via our magazine archive. Please note that editions published before our language switch in March 2024 are in German.
