Despite music always taking center stage at Nexus Nerd Rock Festival in Leipzig, the combinatory concert, ren faire and pop culture convention has potential for game developers, not least because of the efforts of local and regional actors like Next Level: Saxony!.
Leipzig is the birthplace of gamescom's predecessor Games Convention, so it's no wonder the Saxonian cosmopolitan hub is constantly reinventing its gaming and popculture present. One of this inventions is caggtus Leipzig, on which we reported extensively this year, and which is a strong combination of gaming themes. The other is a more extravagant combinatory effort: Nexus Nerd Rock Festival, which has taken place this weekend from 18-20 September for the second time, is a hybrid of metal & rock festival, pop culture convention and renaissance faire. And while not all three parts work to the fullest, the combo has not only grown significantly since its inception in 2025, but also comes with tons of proofs of success and a lot of potential for the future.
The heart of Nexus is undoubtedly the music. That even stems from the location: Nexus takes place at agra Fair Park Leipzig, the home of the annual largest gothic festival on the planet, Wave-Gotik-Treffen (WGT). The infrastructure and a lot of the organisation as well as exhibitors do align there and bring synergies. The ticket prices of Nexus also clearly show where the focus lies: 119€ for all accesses (excluding camping, a ground for which is of course provided as a true festival) is much nearer to festival prices than to convention or ren faire prices. A smaller ticket (79€) including some music and the full convention but not the headliner stage is offered, but most people will likely either go for the full package or just the convention and ren faire at 39€ per ticket a day - itself quite pricey when it comes to convention-only access passes.
So Nexus is best described when talking about the full package, because I am unsure if the convention alone holds up to the price. But in combination with the music, for consumers the festival holds quite some value: Three stages, one of them focused on talks and panels by beloved community figures, influencers or authors (like the headline speaker Coldmirror or forensic expert and author Marcus Schwarz), one focused on smaller bands and pop culture-focused cover bands and one headliner stage full of international hits give plenty of choices. Crucially, the lineup pulled people who specifically came for a few headliners just as much as experiment-lovers who just visited as many bands they didn't know before. The volume and size of the crowds showed that the headliners pulled the most, naturally; Dead by April, As December Falls and other, not month-related groups drew huge crowds, as did national or regional beloved bands such as Mittel Alta and Bluthund.
The renaissance fair, located outside, in contrast brings the strongest show values with it, from its overall aesthetics as a medieval tent city full of costumes (including a post-apocalyptic area that channeled Mad Max and Fallout, complete with chainsaw-wielding cosplayers). The area combined with the food court, which held food trucks of remarkable quality and good pricing, vegan options included. Shows here were focused on reenactment, juggling, swordsmanship and medieval music, and the faire housed on the two artist markets, here of course thematically focused on all things crafted from natural materials or through traditional crafts like blacksmithing or glass melting.
From the perspective of a games magazine, and a business one at that, the most scrutiny goes to the convention space, however. Located in the large entry hall, it followed standard layouts and had all the booths you would expect: Artist alleys, loosely divided into painters and crafters on one and tailors and jewelry makers on the other side, a tabletop area with pen and paper, figure painting, board games and TCG play areas, an NSFW area (the whole grounds were 18+, but R-rated material was sectored specifically so people who would not want to see too much naked skin did not need to) and of course a gaming area. Said gaming space was divided into two, and indie area and a retro area. Main exhibitor for the indie area was Games & XR Mitteldeutschland e.V. with their accelerator brand Next Level: Saxony!, both based in Leipzig. Through Leipzig developer connections, the indie publishing arm of Deck 13, Spotlight, was also on site. The retro area was organised by Leipzig local René Meyer, who owns and organises most retro areas on German fairs from caggtus to gamescom as well.
And how was this gaming space for the developers? When we asked on site, those exhibiting were surprised on how strongly the festivalgoers responded to the games in a positive way. Nexus 2025 held reputation of not pulling quite a lot of people to the gaming area, several current and former games exhibitors at Nexus confirmed to me on request. In fact, noone that exhibited in 2025 was back in 2026. Similar echoes came from the artist alleys on request, some of the returners claiming that in 2025 they did not even make back their booth rental fee.
And yet, this is not entirely surprising for such an unconventional event concept, and an unfortunate fact of many new events. And indeed, the 2026 gaming area was filled with players, both in the retro and indie area, and at additional gaming stations that provided opportunities to play multiplayer titles with friends. And artists reported this year that they had made back their booth fee in the middle of the second convention day. So all signs point towards Nexus already having grown out of its newborn pains when it comes to filling the convention floor.
The new gaming floor concept, mostly organised by Next Level: Saxony!, did wonders for funneling players to the arcade cabinets and gaming stations. Also, while the official numbers are not out yet, a strong growth in visitor numbers seems very likely since the last year, which further helped disseminate more interested people into all areas of the convention.
Enhancing this is the fact that the gaming stations at Nexus have been free for developers through the combinatory effort of the regional association and the desire of Nexus to provide games for their nerd section.
The convention also held space for a charity and good causes area, which featured important causes such as Christopher Street Day Leipzig or the Kein Bock auf Nazis! ("I can't stand Nazis") initiative. Overall, the entire festival was steadfast in rejection the fascist tendencies that are currently on display in many German states, not the least in eastern ones like Saxony: Not a single political booth from the right-wing spectrum was on site, but in turn the anti-fascist organisations were very welcome to present their initiatives and products. A welcoming atmosphere for queer and disabled people was obvious – surely not only because of, but enhanced by agra's connection to non-conforming subcultures through WGT – and every stage held front-line spaces for people in wheelchairs. Several bands reminded their audiences between songs (and sometimes even through songs itself) of the safe space policies. Satirical medieval rap and rock band Mittel Alta even cheered No Means No! with their audience before starting into a lyrical rant against sexual predators.
Leipzig is often perceived as the cosmopolitan, welcoming hub in a Saxony that drifts towards the right – and Nexus falls squarely into this hopeful trend for the city.
