From the 21st to 25th August, Gamescom was held in Cologne. Open to the public, the international trade fair managed to have a new crowd record this year. Biborg shares its summary of the event in 5 key points of the main European event dedicated to video games.
Angela Merkel at Gamescom
German Chancellor Angela Merkel officially opened the video game fair on the 22nd of August in Cologne. Her presence demonstrates the importance of Gamescom as one of the flagship cultural events in Europe, the largest video game show in the world with more than 350,000 visitors, it demonstrates the economic impact of the sector in Germany and Europe. It is also a good way to get closer to German youth as part of her campaign for a new mandate in the legislative elections which will take place on the 24th of September.
The PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds phenomenon
The most talked about title in the alleys of Gamescom was released in confidentiality during the spring of 2017. It now beats all growth records: it is the most played video game on the Steam platform on August 27th (870000 simultaneous players) and 2nd most watched game on Twitch after the famous League of Legends. Created by Irishman Brendan Greene and edited by the Korean Bluhole studio, this battle-royal shooter game reinvents the shooting game concept and is already shadowing the famous Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Its success is explained by the strong emotions it gives players, the simplicity of the concept of the game (100 players, 1 sole survivor) and the particular attention paid to the feedback of the community. The game was present at the Microsoft conference and an E-sport competition with ESL.
The mobile games for gamers
Mobile gaming is clearly upping their game. Quick & snackable mobile games a la Candy Crush, Angry Birds have now started to be replaced by AAA mobile games. Studios are embracing this trend by spending more time on developing mobile games with in-depth narrative, story development and AAA gameplay, which requires a lot more investments from the players. Some gamers stories even reveal how they stopped playing games like DOTA2 to fully commit into a game like Clash of Clans for instance. Even established publishers are now showcasing more mobile games. It was interesting to notice for example that Bandai Namco presented 4 console games and 4 mobile games on their booth this year with Tales of the Rays, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Blazing, Dragon Ball Z Dokkan Battle and Sword Art Online: Memory Defrag.With mobile devices becoming always more powerful and people spending more and more time on their smartphones, it would be silly to think that AAA mobile games won’t be taking over in the next few years.
Amazon, the new Netflix of gaming?
Amazon strongly increased their presence at this year’s Gamescom in comparison to previous editions. Breakaway had its own arena where the game was being made playable for the first time. Teams of 4 could then fight against each other while people sat down and watched, listening to live commentators.
Amazon seems to be moving towards a videogame publishing model and not only showcasing their digital Appstore. Owning Twitch, the giant is developing an extremely compelling model in which those video games are specifically built with streaming in mind. Being focused on creating videogames that are equally fun to play than watch is clearly the future.
Always more E-Sport
While E-Sport and competitive games have always been present at Gamescom, there is a strong growth of its presence at the show this year and a growing interest of the public. Many publishers organise competitions such as Call of Duty: WWII, FIFA 18, Rainbow Six: Siege, Hearthstone, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Rocket League, Starcraft II. The presence of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds at the Microsoft conference is a strong message sent and shows the importance of the competitive sphere for industry and players.
