Gamescom takes place at Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany. Source: GamesBeat
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How Gamescom has taken gaming culture global | interview

Gamescom has become perhaps the biggest celebration of games in the world. Starting this week in Cologne, Germany, the show will draw both huge professional and consumer crowds to the sprawling Koelnmesse exhibition complex.

Gamescom drew more than 335,000 attendees in 2024. The only show that is remotely competitive is China Joy, which takes place in Shanghai, China. Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, features the Devcom game developer event, which drew 5,000 professionals last year. This year Devcom runs Sunday (August 17) through Tuesday (August 19).

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.