The Game Developers Conference was postponed. E3 2020 was canceled. But Gamescom 2020 is still planning to go forward on schedule in August despite ongoing concerns around COVID-19 (coronavirus), organizers have confirmed.
The annual gaming show is held in Cologne, Germany every August. Just recently, the city of Cologne announced it was banning all major events with more than 1,000 participants, which would include Gamescom. This ban is scheduled to be lifted on April 10, so Gamescom is theoretically able to go forward.
The situation surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak, which is now classified as a global pandemic, changes on a daily basis, so it presents a challenge for event-planners. For now at least, the organizers of Gamescom are stressing that preparations for Gamescom 2020 are “continuing as planned.” If the event is canceled, all tickets will be refunded.
Even if Gamescom 2020 is able to go forward, whether or not publishers will want to send their teams to the show is another question.
Another issue at play here is that Gamescom is planning to expand to Singapore with a new show, Gamescom Asia, slated for October 2020. There have been no updates as of yet regarding what impact COVID-19 may have on that event.
Gamescom’s main show in Cologne is among the biggest in the world. A reported 373,000 people from more than 100 countries attended the show in 2019, making it many, many times larger than E3 in terms of attendance.
While E3 2020 may be officially canceled, a number of marquee attendees–including Microsoft and Nintendo–are still planning or considering the possibility of holding their own digital events.