Gaming

Gamescom 2020 cancelled, replaced with digital event, now closest thing to E3


No E3 this year means this is the closest we’re getting to a summer-based gaming event (pic: Getty Images)

With E3 not happening this year the only alternative is Gamescom, which will now be a digital-only event.

E3’s cancellation this year sent massive ripples throughout the gaming industry and community and with its supposed online replacement cancelled too, the summertime is looking very dry in terms of gaming events.

In the wake of this, many found themselves looking towards Gamescom to act as a pseudo E3, even though most of the intended E3 announcements will likely be revealed by the publishers on their own terms.

Even if it ends up lacking any major, ground-breaking reveals, Gamescom is, at the very least, still running this year, though not physically, as Germany (where it’s held) has banned public gatherings until the end of August in response to the coronavirus.

The official Twitter account has confirmed that staff are already hard at work on setting up a digital event, as well as stating that all ticket purchases will be refunded.

There’s no confirmed date, so it’s unknown if it will run during the original intended time frame of 25 – 29 August, but Gamescom: Opening Night Live will be held on Monday 24 August as a digital event as well.

Geoff Keighley, who hosted the first event last year, will be returning to host. Given it will be one of the only non-partisan gaming events all year it’s likely that it will be used to announce several new games and will probably end up more like The Game Awards – just without the awards bit.

Gamescom may not get as much notoriety as E3, but it is technically the biggest gaming event in the world in terms of size, boasting the tagline of ‘the heart of gaming,’ and has still hosted many big and popular titles, either revealing new info or having playable demos for the public to try out for the first time.

A lot of the main publishers like Microsoft and Nintendo have some sort of presence there too, so we can hopefully expect to see new details, footage or hands-on impressions of any titles they might announce beforehand (assuming they do).

Sony stopped hosting press events at Gamescom several years ago but it still always has a consumer stand and it did unveil new Death Stranding footage last year.

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