Europe’s largest gaming event, gamescom, has announced that its plans for a live event will be affected by Germany’s ban on major events through Aug. 31.
The COVID-19 pandemic has derailed many gaming events this year, and gamescom is the latest. It was due to take place from Aug. 25 to 29 in Cologne, Germany.
While a tweet put out by gamescom didn’t confirm the event’s cancellation, the major events ban makes it likely.
The fate of the event has been in question for some time now, and gamescom’s announcement today doesn’t make it any clearer—but those with travel plans to Cologne this summer might want to begin looking into other options.
Thankfully, the show will go on in some capacity. The plans for a digital event were previously announced in March, and a digital format likely means pre-recorded announcements and live-streamed trailers, so gamers have something to look forward to online this summer.
For gamescom 2018, an estimated 370,000 people attended the event. That sort of gathering is obviously not plausible given the current state of the world.
TwitchCon Europe, Game Developers Conference, and E3 are just some of the gaming events that have been canceled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic already this year.
