Ever since Germany’s gaming expo first opened its doors roughly nine years ago it attracted hundreds of thousands of attendees each year, resulting in regularly breaking visitor records, essentially making it the largest western gaming convention. I used the chance to attend multiple times, most notably this year, but also back when it all started in 2008. Here are my afterthoughts…
Celebrating The Games
While gaming conventions aren’t anything particularly new, one cannot deny that gamescom has a certain charm to it. It’s being hosted directly inside one of Germany’s most beautiful cities, Cologne, inviting you to not only visit the expo itself but also amazing sights. Like the well-known Cologne Cathedral, the zoo, the chocolate museum, or just taking a boat tour on the Rhine. So in a way moving the expo from Leipzig (which now hosts DreamHack) to Cologne in 2007 not only benefited the city, but also the visitors, which, today, come from all around the globe. Just to mention it, there’s lots of really good cosplayers, and you might run into journalists, youtubers or esport players you might know. For example, this year Blizzard invited Team Liquid’s Heroes of the Storm squad and Konami had Borussia Dortmund’s Aubameyang and Marco Reus (who was on FIFA 17’s cover a year ago). Also present was Super Bunnyhop, who I sadly missed, just like Hideo Kojima roughly 3 or 4 years ago when he paid a quick visit to the Phantom Pain booth to take some pictures with cosplayers.
Very often I get the feeling that gamescom isn’t just Germany’s most significant gaming expo, but also Europe’s. After all, it’s a real acknowledgement of what we tend to see only digitally – gaming transcends borders.
And Now For The Bad News
And while all of this sounds very exciting in theory it begs the question as to why so many people speak critically of it. Yes, Gamescom gets all the big developers and publishers to set up booths, like Nintendo, Ubisoft, EA or Sony, and also interesting smaller ones (the CDPR booth was my personal favorite this year). But to boil it down, Gamescom’s biggest problem stems from its concept. Being an expo which is trying to appeal to the general public. Which isn’t inherently bad, but combine that with the practice of overselling relatively cheap tickets and you’ll have an agoraphobic’s nightmare.
And this applies to each of the four days that the expo is opened to general public. Sadly, it also didn’t help that Gamescom’s host, the Federal Association of Interactive Entertainment Software (BIU), increased the size of the event area multiple times. This year 4 out of the 10 halls are used for the exclusive business area, with entrance to these only permitted for those who are either journalists or part of the gaming industry. Keep that in mind while you’re supposed to wait for 4 or 5 hours just to get a glimpse at some of the new Triple-A titles and you cannot help but wonder if the attempt to both seclude a large area for B2B while also trying to appeal to a wide audience might be detrimental to each other.
Last but not least, wild cards are also a thing. Basically they’re a bunch of press day tickets which are being raffled each year, but that isn’t a proper solution as it only allows a small portion of random people to have a better experience. Ask those who attended the press day though and you’ll have much more positive feedback compared to those who had to visit on a regular day.
From my perspective some of the issues could be fixed by either reducing the number of available tickets, increasing the ticket prices or (and this would be my preferred option) setting up a dedicated day which is supposed to cater to a core audience by using an exclusive ticket pool. However, considering the monetary success and the failure of the hosting association to acknowledge the clearly (!) existent overcrowding I’d expect no change anytime soon.
Quick Survival Guide
If you are interested in going to Gamescom I’d like to give you four quick tips which might help you to prepare to what you will certainly or experience. Why four and not five you might ask? Because I can, that’s why.
Nevermind I came up with a fifth one:
- Be early
This might seem like the most obvious thing to do for people who generally go to events but trust me, be there one hour early in case you want to see anything in particular.
- Bring food and water
Again, this might seem obvious but if you plan to be there for up to 10 hours or so and don’t want to pay ridiculous prices just bring your own stuff. Bags are fine. Oh, and leave the glass bottles home, you can’t bring those with you.
- Set up a priority list
Whether it is merchandise or the newest Super Mario game, be aware that you might only get to see so much considering the massive waiting queues. Rule of thumb: Try to avoid halls with the big 3 (EA, Sony, Microsoft)
- Try to be a decent human being
To be completely honest, most people already are. If you meet gamers (or gaming enthusiasts, or just fans) in real life they tend generally nice guys.
- Visit Cologne
Alright, this is more than obvious. I already mentioned this earlier but in case that didn’t completely get to you: Visit the sights! Enjoy the (hopefully) nice weather! Annoy locals! Go have a drink! But for the love of god don’t drink any Kölsch. Just because it’s a local speciality doesn’t mean it’s drinkable.
The Little Things
Going to gamescom is more than just taking a look at new games. If that’s the only thing you’re interested in you’ll most likely be disappointed. Sure, some of those games you might be able to play for a few minutes but is that really worth waiting for hours? For some you, sure, but for the majority probably not. And keep in mind that most of what you see there, any trailers, any screenshots, you’ll most definitely find online by the time you get home. So truely there’s no disadvantage here to staying home.
My personal takeaway is this: Unless I am able to snatch one of those very rare wild cards next year I will most likely not go. I see the potential, I really do. However, right now for me it’s just not worth it. And in a way that’s disappointing because it could clearly be a much better experience for everyone if just wasn’t filled with way too many people. Nevertheless, in case you do really want to go, don’t feel discouraged because of me. Just be aware of what you’re getting yourself into.