August 29, 2023
Recap: gamescom 2023
gamescom 2023 was a blast once again – we met some people we rarely see throughout the year otherwise, made new connections and, most importantly, enabled five studios from Hamburg to present their games at the shared Gamecity Hamburg Booth at the Indie Arena Booth.
We’re back in Hamburg and are stunned by the major success that gamescom had in 2023: A total of 320,000 visitors from over 100 countries strolled through the fair on all days, resulting in a sold-out event on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The developers and studios had the opportunity to exchange ideas, make important contacts with publishers as well as international and national press, and present their games to the public.
Wednesday is traditionally exclusive for press and business visitors (and a few Wildcard holders), so the five teams who participated in our Road to program could ease into manning a booth at gamescom. The five teams who brought the Gamecity booth to life with their fantastic games were About Cannons & Sparrows with their game of the same name, Crumbling Games with Crumbling, DrownTown with Light of Atlantis, Radioactive Dreams with Turbo Shell and Symmetry Break Studio with Misgiven. You can find more info about these games in our previous news article.
On Thursday the gamescom officially opened to the public, which meant that thousands of trade visitors made their way through the halls. Loads of them explored the Indie Arena Booth with its 140 games, the narrow floors were soon packed. As a first, later in the day, all the different funding institutions of the federal states hosted a joint reception with the theme “Germany loves Games”. We are always delighted to see the great games that emerge from all over Germany, not only at gamescom, and of course that is worth celebrating. In the evening the Gamecity Hamburg team and our Road to participants all made their way to the popular industry party, which once again proved to be the place to be for running into people we couldn’t meet at the fair and getting some fresh air after days inside the trade halls.
Friday was the last day for business visitors, so we started it off with a highlight: our traditional fish bun and Franzbrötchen reception. This year we partnered up with our good friends from Games/Bavaria, for a joined reception under the name of "Servus & Moin - Gamecity Hamburg meets Games/Bavaria". This way our guests could also enjoy Bavarian specialties while networking with contacts from the north and south of Germany and international visitors. It was great to see so many of our guests from all over the country stopping by and enjoying some regional specialities and good conversations.
Speaking of great things: congratulations to GAME:IN, who won the “Heart of Gaming” award at gamescom for their important work standing up against sexism and discrimination in the industry. We are proud supporters of their work and are glad that they received this recognition.
While we’re slowly getting back into the groove here in Hamburg, we’re already thinking about the next convention, which is the Polaris from October 13-15. We will also have a common booth there, so keep your eyes peeled for more info on that soon. Want to stay up to date about our next "Road to" programs, bringing Hamburg-based developers to international games events? Check out the program here and subscribe to our monthly newsletter to never miss a call for participation!
Gallery: gamescom 2023
