Geoff Keighley, host of Opening Night Live, previewed the game premiere show coming at Gamescom on Tuesday at 11 a.m. Pacific time.
The show once against kicks off Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, and the livestreamed digital show aims to top its audiences in the past, which included 72 million viewers a year ago. Keighley and Gamescom leaders Felix Falk and Tim Endres previewed the show in a press event.
Keighley will co-host the show with Eefje “sjokz” Depoortere once again as it opens Gamescom, the biggest gaming festival in the world, on the evening of August 25, 2026 at 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., central European standard time (CEST). Last year, Gamescom drew more than 357,000 people in person to the event.
Gamescom is preceded by Gamescom Dev, a 5,000-person or so developer conference that starts Sunday August 23 and runs through Tuesday August 25. Opening Night Live is on August 25, Gamescom’s business-to-business show opens on August 26, and the large crowds come on August 27 to August 30.
Keighley said this year’s show includes world premieres and updates from the international games industry, including news on Metro 2039 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Songs of the Past, which are expected to be released in 2027. Other game companies have said the show will also include Gears of War: E-Day from Xbox, Final Fantasy VII: Revelation from Square Enix, NetEase’s Ananta, and more. One of the big deals is to see the games revealed and then enabling fans to play them at the show, the organizers said.
The press briefing
Keighley said in response to a question that the Opening Night Live show — like the Summer Game Fest and The Game Awards shows that Keighley also hosts — will have a mix of paid advertisement trailers as well as free editorial approved trailers where the creators don’t pay for the placement in the show.
The paid ad trailers reportedly run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for one-minute trailers, as a general rule. It’s the eighth time Keighley has done the show at Gamescom.
Keighley said that the editorial and paid placements in the show are often just like companies purchasing booths at Gamescom to get booths on the show floor. If you purchase space at Gamescom, you’re eligible to be in the show, as all in the show are “partners to Gamescom.”
Keighley said, “One of the things that’s important to all of us is that there are games that get selected for editorial value in the show. There’s also a lot of independent games that we take. You’ll see many small teams, you know, made by games made by three, four people that get selected to be inside of ONL because we believe in those titles, we believe in those teams, we want to support them.”
He said that Opening Night Live is a marketing event in digital form, just like Gamescom is a marketing event with physical space. But there are games that he selects for “editorial consideration” to be included in the Opening Night Live livestream, which is Gamescom’s digital extension. The editorial part is decided as a group decision, Keighley said.
How big the show will be
Falk and Andres said Gamescom 2026 will have over 1,600 exhibitors and 47 country pavilions, including new participants like Bulgaria, Morocco, Nigeria, and Cyprus. All told, exhibitors are coming from 67 countries.
The event is fully booked for the first time, covering 233,000 square meters of exhibition space, or about 33 soccer pitches. Over 5,000 attendees are expected for the Opening Night Live in-person seats, which I am attending. (The in-person show is sold out).
At Gamescom and Gamescom Dev, AI is a major focus, with a survey indicating its importance for the next three years. The event will also feature high-profile political figures, including the German President, and address regulatory issues. Indie games will have a strong presence, with 420 indie titles showcased, a 16% increase from last year. Gamescom also operates Gamescom Latam in São Paulo, Brazil, and Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show in Bangkok. Everybody asked if Gamescom would come to North America and replace E3, but the show organizers didn’t comment on that.
“Lots of great games are going to be on stage for fans to get a look at, previewing what’s going to be at Gamescom,” Keighley said.
Falk said one of the fun events is a live performance from Mewgenics, created by the composers of the game’s music.
“The community and the energy that we feel when we’re at Gamescom is really special,” Keighley said.
Andres said some of the exhibitors showing titles on the floor include Bandai Namco, Capcom, EA, Nintendo, Xbox, CD Projekt Red and many, many more. Embark Studios, maker of ARC Raiders, will be on the show floor for the first time.
“Gamescom is not only about the big triple-A publishers. It’s a platform for the entire gaming ecosystem, all types of gaming, all sites, and our indie area is growing again very well this year. This year we will welcome 420 indie developers as exhibitors,” Andres said. “That is plus 16% compared to last year, and so there are more independent productions than ever before.”
IGN and Gamescom will have a show for indies this year as well to give them greater global visibility.
“We will also go deeper, and we want to tell some of the human stories behind these games, the people and the teams, the journeys behind these projects, and yeah, that’s gonna be great,” Endres said.
Gamescom GDQ is also a new event with Games Done Quick, one of the best -known charity speedrun events, to support the cause of Gaming for Democracy.
Germany’s president Frank-Walter Steinmeier will speak at Gamescom Congress this week. European Commission executive vice president Henna Virkkunen will also speak. Representatives of the World Health Organization and the UN World Food Programme will also participate.
Asked about the hard times the industry has had in recent years with layoffs, Falk said Gamescom Dev will have a lot of discussions about that and future opportunities in games, as the game industry always look ahead, rather than backward.
“The past years have been tough for the industry, so we are really happy to provide a stage for the industry to think about what’s coming next and where the next dynamic growth for the industry is coming from,” Falk said. “Gamescom is a great signal and sign that this year we are already breaking records with exhibition space and growth by companies and internationally. So I think that’s a good indicator that the industry is preparing for new growth, and even when it’s tough times for studios connected also to our central theme, they are positively looking ahead and looking for the next big thing.”
Asked about Gamescom becoming more like E3 or GDC in the U.S., Endres said that Gamescom has its own identity, combining a huge festival, a B2B platform, and global digital reach.
“This combination is our strength. Our focus is not being like other events, but on making Gamescom better and better each year, especially for the different communities,” he said.
“We are for the first time booked out for exhibitions and space, but we are preparing for more growth in the future already,” Falk said. “We want Gamescom to be still the most important games event and games festival in the world.”