gamescom isn’t just one event. gamescom has many facets. Each one is exciting, but not every one is suited to every target audience. We’ll show you what lies behind the different areas and side events, and how we support your success with gamescom Daily.
Taken together, all the gamescom areas constitute what is generally perceived as the gamescom exhibition. When gamescom launched in 2009, there were essentially two core areas: the exhibition for trade visitors and the exhibition for consumers. But gaming is so much more than that today. Gaming is pop culture. And that includes cosplayers just as much as merchandise, content creators and artists. And they all have their own place at gamescom.
business area: The area for all trade visitors. Halls 2, 3 and 4 are quieter than the rest of the exhibition grounds. This is where the industry meets to discuss licensing and publishing deals, showcase unannounced games to the press, meet retail and business partners – in short, to kick-start business, ideally for the next 12 months and beyond. Tip: The trade visitor area can be accessed directly via the West Entrance. From Thursday onwards in particular, this is the best way for trade visitors to get into the fair and avoid the queues at the consumer entrances.
entertainment area: The classic games fair. In the Entertainment Area, publishers showcase their current and upcoming releases. Hundreds of consoles and PCs invite visitors to try them out and play games; large stages entertain with shows; giveaways are handed out; and the latest trailers are shown on giant screens. Anyone wanting to try out a particularly popular game will either have to be quick or allow plenty of time. Tip: Trade visitors should definitely check out Halls 6, 7, 8 and 9 on Wednesday, as it gets very busy from Thursday onwards.
signing area: The Signing Area is located in Hall 11.1, where content creators sign autographs and meet their fans. As most visitors come from Central Europe, you’ll naturally find mainly creators from Germany, Austria and Switzerland here, as well as from neighbouring countries. Tip: Hall 11.2 is home to the Creator Co-Working Space, a quiet retreat where creators can record or edit videos, or stream live from the event.
cosplay village: Located in Hall 5.1 the cosplay village is the place to be for all cosplayers and anyone who loves cosplay. As well as plenty of cosplay, there are photo booths, workshops and panels, the Cosplay Stage and the big gamescom Cosplay Contest presented by essence.
event area: A hall, a stage and plenty of space for the audience – the event area in Hall 1 is the perfect venue for really big shows. The programme is being finalised right up until shortly before the fair, as exhibitors can also hire the stage exclusively. In 2025, for example, *The Witcher in Concert* took place there. And on the other days too, there was plenty on offer, including concerts, esports events such as the offline final of the Prime League – the top LoL division in GSA – and other shows.
artist area: In the relatively new artists’ area in Hall 5.1, international artists have the opportunity to exhibit their works inspired by gaming and pop culture. The line-up is still being finalised, but will be announced before the gamescom begins.
retro & family area: A historical journey through 50 years of gaming awaits visitors in the retro & family area in Hall 10.2. From the industry’s roots with Pong, through the classic consoles of the 1980s and 1990s, right up to the older models of PlayStation and the like, the area features a wide variety of collections from various clubs and collectors. Games that focus on family gaming also have a special place here.
campus area: Hall 10.1 focuses on education and training, but also on jobs and employment opportunities in the games industry in general. Universities will, of course, be present to provide information on career paths into the games industry, as will companies looking to recruit new team members in the dedicated ‘gamescom jobs & career’ area or introducing themselves to interested visitors on stage.
merchandise area: Located in Hall 5 is the merchandise area, which spans both floors but shares the space with other areas such as the artists’ area and the cosplay village. The merchandise area is the only place at the fair where exhibitors are allowed to sell goods, which is why the stalls run by the traders present are extremely busy from Thursday onwards. Tip: If you’re looking for a souvenir from the fair, you’re guaranteed to find something, and as a trade visitor, you can sort this out as early as Wednesday before the crowds arrive.
cards & boards area: A game is a game is a game, isn’t it? Card and board games have long had a firm place at the numerous fan and community events, and this has also been the case at gamescom for several years now. In Hall 5.2, they’ve found the perfect spot right next to the merchandise stalls.
indie area: Located in Hall 10.2 is one of the most successful areas at gamescom in recent years. For whilst indie games are still a long way from matching Triple-A and Double-A titles in terms of revenue, their creativity – and the target audience’s passion for them – is every bit as impressive as that of the blockbusters. And there is probably no other area of the fair where players and developers can interact as directly as at the various indie stands.
Opening Night Live (ONL) has been part of gamescom since 2019, and it is arguably one of the reasons why gamescom, unlike many other trade fairs, weathered the Covid-19 hiatus relatively well. ONL is the digital stream marking the start of gamescom, featuring world premieres and new trailers, high-profile guests and the globally renowned host Geoff Keighley. ONL brings gamescom to a global audience of millions, thereby ensuring the media visibility that publishers and developers need to justify the investment made in a successful trade fair presence. And for the people of Cologne, too, ONL is a mega-event. After all, the stream takes place at the exhibition centre in front of a live audience. Tickets for ONL 2026 are already sold out.
2026 marks the debut of the gamescom GDQ format. The partnership between Koelnmesse and game on the one hand, and Games Done Quick – the organisers of the charity speedrunning events of the same name – on the other, was only announced a few weeks ago, yet is already causing quite a stir. gamescom GDQ will take place on site from 28 to 30 August in the Konrad-Adenauer-Saal at the Congress Center North on the Koelnmesse site. But of course, the events can also be watched on GDQ’s official YouTube and Twitch channels.
No show is complete without awards, and that goes for gamescom too. For many years now, the trade fair has been celebrating the best games, stands and announcements, with the winners of the gamescom awards being chosen partly by a jury and partly by the public. Anyone exhibiting at the fair can take part by submitting an entry to the competition. The deadline for entries this year is 24 July. Exactly one month later, on 24 August, the nominees will be revealed. The winners will then be announced and celebrated at a show at gamescom on 28 August. In 2026, the gamescom awards will be presented in 19 categories, divided into the groups Arts, Platform and Global. The Global category encompasses the Best Exhibition Stands, Best Merch and the special Heart of Gaming award.
The success of gamescom Opening Night Live since 2019 has had one fly in the ointment: creative but small indie games, in particular, haven’t really found a place in this mega-spectacle. And the paid slots at ONL are simply too expensive for indie games. However, the organisers of gamescom have made a virtue of necessity and launched a second showcase – the gamescom awesome indies show – dedicated exclusively to indie games. The result is a fantastic show featuring announcements, exclusive trailers and gameplay insights, but one that is produced on a smaller scale and is therefore not as expensive as ONL. And after several years, the awesome indies show has also become a fixture.
The gamescom invest circle has been in existence since 2023, with the aim of connecting investors with the innovative European games industry during gamescom. This invitation-only event, supported by PirateX, aims to bring together promising early-stage studios with leading investors, as well as publishers and strategic partners. Although it takes place during gamescom – specifically on 27 August this year – it is held away from the hustle and bustle of the exhibition.
For years, a trend has been evident at gamescom: more and more non-gaming brands are flocking to the event to reach their target audience, who, as a rule, are also gamers. Based on this observation, ‘gamescom across industries’ was created for brands that are keen to engage with the gaming world and seek contacts, but may not yet have gained their own experience in this area – for example, through esports sponsorship. The event is by invitation only and offers brand representatives a mix of panels and expert talks, a guided tour of interesting exhibitors, as well as networking opportunities.
Very few trade visitors will have ever been to the gamescom festival, particularly as it has been held exclusively at weekends in recent years. In its early years, gamescom took Cologne city centre by storm from as early as Thursday, with free concerts, show stages and gaming zones. In 2026, however, the gamescom festival will once again take place on 29 and 30 August, i.e. after the business area has closed. Anyone who chooses to stay in Cologne over the weekend can look forward to what is usually a fantastic line-up of artists performing free of charge on Cologne’s Ringe. However, the details are usually only finalised shortly before gamescom.
With its focus on topics such as education, society and science, the gamescom congress has become one of the industry’s most important events in Germany when it comes to the influence and interaction between games and society. Politics plays an important role here, but by no means the only one. In 2026, the gamescom congress will also be accorded a special honour, as none other than Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Federal President of Germany, will be taking centre stage at the congress.
Although the preceding developer conference in 2026 will bear the name ‘gamescom dev’ for the first time, it is one of the longest-running side events at gamescom. After all, Cologne is not just about marketing and playing games, but also about their development. It was only to be expected that, at the end of devcom 2025, the organisers announced that Europe’s largest games development conference would in future also bear the name ‘gamescom’. In terms of content, gamescom dev has always been part of the gamescom family.
gamescom asia was the first international offshoot of gamescom. Launched, of all times, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event has thrived despite the adverse circumstances. In particular, the move from Singapore to Bangkok – where the event reached over 200,000 people in 2025 as the gamescom x Thailand Game Show – gave gamescom asia a real boost and firmly established the gamescom brand within the Asian gaming industry.
gamescom latam was the brand’s second geographical expansion and brings the South American games industry together in São Paulo, Brazil. At the same time, it builds a bridge to the North American and European games markets, from which studios and publishers from South America benefit just as much as companies from Europe, the USA and Canada.
gamescom LAN expands the brand not in terms of space, but in terms of time and target audience. This is because the concept, which is geared towards content creators, takes place – just like gamescom – at the Koelnmesse exhibition centre, only not in August but usually in February or March. As there are certainly language barriers within the content creator sector, gamescom LAN is an event geared towards Germany, although it cannot be ruled out that there may one day be a geographical expansion as well.
gamescom Daily is our major project for gamescom. Since 2009, we at GamesMarket have been producing and publishing the official ShowDaily in the business area. The print editions are printed overnight and delivered for distribution. Of course, there is also a digital e-paper edition, which you can view for free. Here are the direct links to the 2025 edition.
Team GamesMarket
Team GamesMarket
Team GamesMarket
gamescom exhibitors also have the opportunity to showcase themselves and their products in gamescomDaily via advertorials or adverts. You can find the list prices in our media kit. We’d also be happy to put together a bespoke quote for you: simply get in touch at sales@gamesmarket.global.
