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Gamescom 2022 will be an in-person and online event, organisers have confirmed

The past two shows have been online-only due to Covid-19

Gamescom 2022 will be an in-person and online event, organisers have confirmed

Gamescom’s organisers have announced plans to return to a physical format for the event in 2022.

For the past two years, Covid-19 restrictions resulted in Gamescom being held as an all-digital event.

But Gamescom 2022, which is set to take place from August 24-28, will be a hybrid event held on-site in Cologne and simultaneously online, organisers Koelnmesse and the German Games Industry Association (GAME) said on Thursday.

The event will launch with Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 23. It will then open for trade visitors, press and content creators on August 24, ahead of four days of public access for ticket holders.

On top of the main business and entertainment areas of the convention, Gamescom 2022 also promises “additional sections, including for cosplay, retro, and indie fans”.

The show’s organisers also announced a new ‘Gamescom Goes Green’ initiative designed to make the show “climate-neutral over the medium and long term through the reduction and avoidance of CO2 emissions and in the short term through carbon offset”.

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GAME managing director Felix Falk said: “All Gamescom fans and partners have been waiting for this for two years: Gamescom is finally returning to the Cologne exhibition halls, and thus also the unique festival feeling we had all been missing so much.

“This year we are combining the best of both worlds: our extensive digital program with the incomparable Gamescom experience on-site. In the process, Gamescom is also once again setting new standards in 2022, for example, in matters of sustainability: with our ‘Gamescom goes green’ initiative, we will make Gamescom a special and climate-friendly event together with visitors and exhibitors.

“We thus want to not only be a lighthouse for the many initiatives for environmental protection and climate action in the international games industry, but also a pioneer for international events in general.”