As the novel coronavirus spreads to more than 1 million people worldwide, more and more aspects of daily life continue to be impacted in various ways. The COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic has caused a ton of disruption throughout a variety of events and the like. Bethesda shelved plans to present a digital event after E3 2020 was canned altogether. Of course, the latter of those two cancellations came after E3 was beset by other problems aside from COVID-19.
In an official press release, Gamescom has announced that they will be making changes to future events, both to adapt to changing consumer cultures and the spread of COVID-19. The previous outings for the German event have been an intensely physical experience, with hundreds of thousands attending the event each year. The company behind the event is planning to take the focus of the event into a more online state.
Gamescom is still planning to go off this August, but with some pretty major changes to the way the event goes off. Mostly the focus will move away from having to be physically there to experience it all and instead is moving to a much more online presence.
With these changes the events will be a lot different to previous runs of the convention. Gamescom 202o will still feature many of the developer talks, trailer showcases and a bunch of other stuff. These will get the same amount of pomp and circumstance as previous years, but also given a more online focus with presentations and the like being streamed online. Fans can also expect to see more coverage that’s entirely online as well.
The exact form of this new event in August will be announced in May, pending further developments. As the organizers put it, “An evaluation will be made in mid-May as to how gamescom can also take place on-site in Cologne based on the latest developments of the corona pandemic at that time together with the responsible state authorities.” Going further, if the organization determines that a physical event is safe at this time, it will go ahead in that form. “If an on-site event is possible, there will also be more information at that stage with regard to which changes need to be made in order to fully ensure the health of all visitors. This has been arranged with the largest exhibitors, therefore all gamescom plans are continuing at full speed.”
