By Craig Chapple

August 23, 2026

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One of the biggest global gaming events of the year is nearly upon us: Gamescom week is here.

There are few shows like it in the industry calendar. Last year’s event attracted 357,000 visitors, up 7% year-over-year. For the first time ever, the expo floor has been completely sold out, according to organisers.

It’s a truly global event. As I noted in my event takeaways last year, walking across the show floor it was clear how companies from Asia are looking to make a splash worldwide. There were big games present including HoYoverse with Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero, Amazing Seasun Games with Mecha Break, Hypergryph’s Arknights: Endfield and Infold Games’ Infinity Nikki, to name just a few.

I expect the same this year. In fact, side events include Tencent’s ‘Worlds of Play’ global art exhibition featuring its in-house and partner studios, bringing some of China’s top titles to Cologne. At the recent ChinaJoy event in Shanghai - the country’s own Gamescom that attracted some 438,900 visitors - one of the themes was China’s ambition to go global.

Companies like Discord were in town, despite not being available in China. Much of the B2B show floor was filled to the brim with ads and payments firms, many sharing the same goal: to get a piece of the pie as China’s top companies expand worldwide.

We’ll be on the ground at Gamescom identifying the biggest trends to report back. As well as Asia’s growing influence, I’ll be looking at whether entertainment companies like Netflix and Paramount are expanding their presence to promote both their shows and games.

I’ll be discussing industry trends with plenty of execs and chatting with industry professionals to get the temperature of the market at large. So keep an eye out on PocketGamer.biz for our coverage.

We’ll also be hosting our own events alongside the big expo next week, too. We’ve got the Pocket Gamer Mobile Games Awards on Tuesday, August 25th. The awards ceremony brings together the mobile games industry’s best and brightest for a night of celebration.

We’ve also got the Pocket Gamer 20th Anniversary Party on Wednesday, August 26th, welcoming hundreds of industry professionals. You can grab your ticket here.

If you want a meeting with the Steel Media team, you can request one here. You can also drop by our booth in Hall 2.1 on Stand E033.

We’ll have a bunch of our regional reports available too, including our newly released report on Türkiye’s bustling games industry, published in association with Xsolla.

It’s going to be a busy week. See you in Cologne!