There are many ways that the gaming industry has changed over the last decade or so, and not all of those changes have been good. One thing that many would say has definitely changed, for better and for worse, is the way video games are “revealed” to the world in big ways. Today, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, and other publishers have special “directly to fan” shows they stream online to let fans know that big announcements are on the way. However, before those shows truly took off, the places to truly get these announcements were things like E3, Gamescom, and the Tokyo Game Show.
Now, though, E3 is gone, the Tokyo Game Show isn’t what it used to be, and Gamescom has stepped up to try and be one of the “premier events” that gaming fans can look into. Felix Falk is the managing director of the entity known as Game. Yes, really, that’s what they’re called. It’s Game that runs Gamescom, and Falk had a chat with The Game Business about what it was like when it and E3 were “running against one another” in the eyes of fans. Except that’s not really how it was:
“We were in a great partnership with E3 through the years, and it was never a competition. It was more… announce your game at E3 and play it at Gamescom.”
That’s a truly symbiotic partnership indeed, and modern-day versions of the German event continue the trend of being able to play games at the event and not just announce things. However, Falk does admit that when E3 died, his group’s show had to do more than ever:
“In some ways it was good because people expect us to be the major, global week for games with the highest visibility for everyone. So that’s our responsibility to present a stage for the industry to fulfil this. This need is also a disadvantage because [Gamescom is] not so strong in the calendar. So sometimes we had to deal with the HQ teams more, as it needs to fit the global calendar for companies.”
How much the show has an impact on the “announcements front” is debatable, but it does draw a lot of people’s attention every year, especially with its “opening night live” event. Plus, this year alone, they have both Xbox and Nintendo at the show with various demos of their upcoming and current games. So, they’re likely to continue on for a long time.
