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Gamescom returns as physical event this year

While Opening Night Live will stream online.

Gamescom, the world's busiest annual game show, will return as an in-person event this year.

As ever, it'll be held in Cologne's cavernous Koelnmesse convention centre, and run from 24th to 28th August.

Safety measures to manage the event's usual crowds will include a limited ticket allocation, better entrance management, digital queues and extra-wide aisles in halls.

Gamescom.

I've attended half a dozen Gamescoms and the above measures are certainly welcome. Arguably, the event needed such things even before Covid was a thing.

Gamescom has been held as a digital-only event for the past two years, but more than 370,000 gamers attended in 2019.

Despite it filling an enormous convention centre, its connecting walkways and busiest halls frequently become crowded.

Today's announcement from Gamescom also included word of a "Gamescom goes green" project, where it will aim to be "climate-neutral" through the reduction and avoidance of CO2 emissions in the medium to long term future, and in the short term through carbon offsetting.

For those not attending in person, the show's Gamescom Opening Night Live event has been confirmed to return, so you can get your regular dosage of host Geoff Keighley. There's no date for that just yet.