After two years in digital format, the video game fair Gamescom will take place again from August 24th to 28th as a face-to-face event in the Cologne exhibition halls.

"All Gamescom fans and partners have been waiting for this for two years," said Felix Falk, Managing Director of the "game" industry association, in spring full of anticipation.

But the reality appears to be different.

The 370,000 visitors who flocked to the last Gamescom in Cologne in 2019 will remain far away.

According to Koelnmesse, 60,000 tickets had been sold by mid-June.

Current pre-sale figures are not disclosed.

When asked, Oliver Frese, Managing Director of Koelnmesse GmbH, said: "We are not aiming for a new visitor record this year." Although there are no longer any corona restrictions for trade fairs in North Rhine-Westphalia,

the number of tickets has been reduced, says Felix Falk.

Tickets are also only available in advance, there will be no box office.

The prices for day tickets have also been significantly increased compared to 2019.

Admission on the popular Saturday costs EUR 30.50.

Three years ago the price was nine euros lower.

This is justified with the increased costs.

Philipp Johannssen

Editor on duty at FAZ.NET.

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The muted expectations of the organizers are likely to result primarily from the cancellations of well-known studios.

Electronic Arts, Nintendo, Sony Playstation, Activision Blizzard, Square Enix and Rockstar Games, among others, will not be there.

"game" Managing Director Falk explains the cancellations with the long-term effects of the pandemic on the industry.

There are still travel restrictions, budgets have been cut and many projects have been delayed.

So some developers and publishers simply had no material that they could present.

There are no clear statements on the part of the companies.

Nintendo says Gamescom is a key part of their calendar of events.

"This year, after careful consideration, we decided against participating in Cologne." Sony would not give any reasons for their cancellation when asked.

Electronic Arts (EA) is also keeping a low profile.

Instead, EA wants to use its own live streams and events to present its games.

Activision Blizzard and Rockstar Games did not respond to written requests.

In the past, Gamescom liked to call itself "The Heart of Gaming" and advertised it as the largest video game fair in the world.

That was correct in terms of visitor numbers, but not in terms of importance.

In the past, there were premieres at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, which is considered the most important trade fair in the industry.

The interest comes from politics

Many cancellations, sluggish pre-sales - the question is now increasingly appearing on the Internet: Doesn't the heart of the video game industry beat in Cologne?

One thing is certain: Gamescom will look different after the pandemic than before.

Mobile gaming takes up a much larger space at the fair this year and is considered a current trend alongside the topic "Healthy through games".

In addition, the indie area, the area of ​​independent video game projects, will grow significantly.

It is also clear that not only Gamescom has problems restarting after two years of the corona pandemic.

At the E3, the face-to-face fair was canceled for 2022, followed by the digital format.

In addition to the difficulties in developing games, the global chip shortage also plays a major role.

Sony in particular suffers from this.

Since the launch of the Playstation 5 in November 2020, the console has been consistently sold out.

The Japanese group cannot meet the demand due to a lack of semiconductors.

Microsoft doesn't seem to have such problems.

Its Xbox Series X and S game consoles are available in stores, and the US group is also one of the few major representatives of the industry to be present at Gamescom.

Ubisoft from France has also confirmed its participation.

At least there is also a lot of interest in visiting the video game fair from politics.

Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) will officially open Gamescom, North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU) and Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) have also announced their presence.