Gamescom is the Place to Meet for 'The Biggest Community in the World'

At a press conference, game and Koelnmesse presented this year's main theme of gamescom and two industry trends. The organisation focuses on the gaming community and emphasises the social significance of games as a medium.

It has become something of a tradition for game - Verband der Deutschen Games-Branche (game - The German Games Industry Association) and Koelnmesse to announce the main theme of this year's gamescom about a month before the event and to draw attention to selected topics of interest to the industry. However, the selection of themes is actually more of a hint at very specific topics that are intended to help the general interest press in particular find their way around the ever-growing games industry. Speaking at today's digital press conference, Felix Falk, Managing Director of game, said that many other topics will of course also be covered at the fair. But the main theme is often reflected in the accompanying gamescom campaigns. And this year it is: 'The World's Largest Community'.

"Anyone who has ever been to gamescom themselves knows the unique feeling," says Felix Falk. "You immediately recognise the joy, curiosity and passion in people’s faces. Long-standing friendships are celebrated and new friends are made – because games connect people in an incomparable way, creating the biggest community in the world. This social component of games is still overlooked far too often, yet it’s so valuable. In times when isolation has become a serious societal challenge and there’s more and more focus on what divides rather than unites us – in these times, games connect billions of people around the world every day in a special way. At gamescom this year, we therefore decided on a theme that highlights this unique community – the players of video games."

While the main theme is dominated by the community, game and Koelnmesse are focusing on society and the role games play in it with the selection of the official gamescom trends. The two trends presented by the organisers are: "Games protect democracy" and "Games - access to the future". While the first theme is about the use of games, for example as a medium of information or for the culture of memory, the second trend is about why the world's most valuable companies, such as Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia, are competing in the games sector. On the one hand, it is about technology that is driven by gaming, and on the other - and this is where the circle closes - it is about access to the 'largest community in the world'.