Gamescom Opening Night Live returns this August

Gamescom Opening Night Live will return this August, Geoff Keighley has announced.

In a tweet, the host and producer of the show said that he is “excited to be back in Cologne with the fans and industry, streaming video game news directly to you”.

Opening Night Live is The Game Awards producer’s regular pre-show presentation for the German Gamescom expo, which last year took place in Cologne as an in-person event for the first time since 2019.

Last year’s show ran for just over two hours and featured more than 35 games.

Gamescom 2023 will take place from August 22 to August 27. According to organisers Koelnmesse and The German Games Industry Association, as of the middle of March, this year’s Gamescom has ten percent more companies registered for 2023’s event than it did at this time last year.

Gamescom has yet to announce which companies will be involved, only that the first exhibitors will be announced “at a later date”. However, Oliver Frese, CEO of Koelnmesse, claimed that a major company will make a return to 2023’s show.

“Last year, we made a really strong, hybrid Gamescom comeback together with all partners and exhibitors,” he said. “In and beyond the industry, this achievement has been noticed, as was evident with the strong interest during the early bird phase.

“Without giving away too much, I promise that the community can look forward to one or the other major company that was not present last year.”

Last year’s Gamescom – its first in several years due to the pandemic – saw publishers such as Microsoft, 2K, Warner Games, Sega, and Ubisoft attending.

Further reading

Gamescom claims company registrations are up 10%, promises ‘major company’ return

Attendees can look forward to "one or the other major company that was not present last year"

Nintendo did not attend the event, instead focussing on giving consumers opportunities to “try out the games for Nintendo Switch at numerous events throughout Germany”.

Sony also skipped last year’s event. The PlayStation maker last appeared at Gamescom in 2019, the last in-person incarnation before the pandemic.