Normally held in Cologne, Gamescom Opening Night Live went digital for a second year and enjoyed massive success with a 30-percent increase in viewership.
Viewership for the all-digital Gamescom opening ceremony hit 5.8 million viewers, according to a report published by Nintendo Life. Views of all Gamescom shows added up to a staggering 13 million viewers, which also comes out to a 30-percent increase from the previous year.
Host Geoff Keighley brought gamers the latest updates in gaming, including new releases, game updates, and developer interviews. Other shows during Gamescom included Awesome Indies and the Future Games Show.
Gamescom is normally the most-attended gaming expo in the world, but due to the public health requirements, officials opted for a second year of all-digital shows. Attendee numbers usually hit somewhere around 375,000, but the numbers have been steadily growing over the years and may have increased to over 400,000 if in-person events were held for the last two years.
Viewership for all Gamescom shows in 2020 was reported at 10 million, according to a final report done by Gamescom. Simultaneous viewers in both 2020 and 2021 remained steady at approximately two million, but that’s four times the number of viewers that was reported in 2019.
The Opening Night Live segment was first introduced in 2019 when Keighley announced that he’d be launching a dedicated video game announcement show prior to the start of Gamescom. The stream turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the show since it was forced to take its entire programming schedule digital in 2020 and 2021.
There were over 38 games showcased on the stream, many of them new announcements or new content coming to existing games. Some of the bigger titles included Far Cry 6, Marvel’s Midnight Suns, a Saints Row reboot, and Halo Infinite.
