Opening Night Live is the main draw
Like every other video game expo this year, Gamescom had to either adapt to the pandemic or bail. That meant shifting from a physical gathering with way too many people in Cologne to a worldwide, all-digital event with “world premieres, news, games, and events.” It also means a slight date change.
This year, the digital-only Gamescom 2020 will run from Thursday, August 27 to Sunday, August 30.
For our purposes, that first date is the one worth jotting down – that’s when Geoff Keighley is returning to host the news-centric Gamescom: Opening Night Live show. It’s tough to keep this stuff straight year to year, but we covered quite a few headlines from Keighley’s 2019 presentation, including:
- Gears 5 gives us a very Mountain Dew trailer to kick off Gamescom
- Man, I really hope Predator: Hunting Grounds turns out well
- Pissing outdoors is great, here’s a Death Stranding gameplay trailer
Something about The Game Awards (and now Opening Night Live) gets us fired up.
The rest of the schedule will be devoted to new streaming shows like Awesome Indies (“news about the most anticipated indie titles”), Daily Show (highlights), and the developer interview-focused Gamescom Studio. The award ceremony, Gamescom: Best of Show, will wrap things up on August 30.
“Our digital concept is showing the way forward in the event landscape and many of the innovations will become an integral part of Gamescom in the years to come,” Koelnmesse managing director Oliver Frese said in a press release. That’s something I’ve wondered about for 2021 and beyond.
Meanwhile, “on-site events in Cologne, such as the business area, entertainment area, Gamescom Congress, and Gamescom City Festival, will not take place this year given the current situation.”
When the time comes, you can keep tabs on the Gamescom Now hub. Otherwise, we’ll see you in roughly one hundred days for Opening Night Live. (It freaks me out to hear it phrased that way.)
Start the countdown.
