gamescom 2025 Closes With 357,000 Visitors and a New Trade Visitor Record

With more than 357,000 visitors, gamescom 2025 saw an increase of over 22,000 visitors compared to last year. gamescom is therefore maintaining its momentum and setting new records, especially regarding internationality, trade visitors, and the number of exhibitors.

Gamescom 2025 set numerous new records, particularly in terms of internationality (70% of visitors came from abroad, as did exhibitors from 72 countries), digital reach (more than 630 million views worldwide by Saturday evening alone), exhibition space (233,000 square metres), and number of exhibitors (1,568). A total of 357,000 people visited the world's largest festival of games culture on site in Cologne. This is an increase on the 335,000 visitors in the previous year (2024) and the 320,000 visitors (2023) the year before that. In total, this is the third-highest visitor number ever, after 2018 (370,000) and 2019 (373,000), before the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of trade visitors increased to 34,000, with significant growth in participants from the USA, China, Canada and Japan. This is the highest number in gamescom's long history; last year, it was 32,000.

"This year, gamescom 2025 is sending out a particularly positive signal. After two challenging years for the games industry, you could really feel the mood improving this year. The new record figures underline not only the global appeal of gamescom, but also the upward trend in the entire games industry," says Felix Falk, Managing Director of game - The German Games Industry Association, the co-organiser of gamescom. "gamescom 2025 is also a milestone for the German games industry: political support for the additional tax-based games funding at gamescom was stronger than ever – from both the federal and the state level alike. This creates hope that progress will be made quickly. But there were also positive signals on many other political topics, whether for e-sports from Federal Minister Bär at the political opening or from Federal Minister for Family Affairs Kathrin Prien, who was just as convinced of the important work of the USK in the protection of minors as she was of the enormous potential of games for the education sector."

Gerald Böse, CEO of Koelnmesse, said: "gamescom 2025 has once again set a new standard for major international events. With 1,568 exhibitors occupying 233,000 square metres of exhibition space, it is clear that it offers a unique combination of business and entertainment on a global scale. With new records in almost all areas, an enormous variety of experiences, and global participation, gamescom is undoubtedly the most important event for the worldwide gaming community."

gamescom 2025 at a glance

• 357,000 visitors from 128 countries
• Over 34,000 trade visitors, with the strongest growth coming from the USA, China, Canada and Japan
• The entire show programme received over 630 million views - an increase of 105% on the previous year (as of Saturday evening). Of these, over 72 million were views of gamescom Opening Night Live, marking an 80% increase on the previous year.
• 5.7 million page views on gamescom epic (as of Saturday evening)
• There were 1,568 exhibitors from 72 countries, 70% of whom came from abroad
• 40 country pavilions from 35 countries Around 233,000 square metres of gross exhibition space Around 80,000 people attended the gamescom city festival

The devcom developer conference (soon to be known as gamescom dev) increased its visitor numbers by six per cent to 5,400 participants, and the gamescom congress also recorded growth of ten per cent to exceed 1,000 visitors for the first time.

Interest in gamescom 2025 from the political sphere was greater than ever before. Over 600 politicians came to Cologne to familiarise themselves with the latest developments in the games industry and its enormous economic, cultural and technological potential. The political guests came from all levels, including the federal states, the federal government and the EU. A particularly large number of international delegations also travelled to gamescom, including those from this year's partner country, Thailand, as well as from Brazil, Indonesia and India.

gamescom 2026 will take place from 26 to 30 August. It will open on 25 August 2026 with the gamescom Opening Night Live. gamescom is jointly organised by Koelnmesse and the game association of the German games industry.

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