Gamescom 2025 has closed its doors today at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany, and if anyone doubted the popularity of in-person gaming shows, they certainly have been proven wrong once again.
According to the press release, the show drew 357,000 visitors from 128 countries, confirming the upward trend that we have seen every year after the pause mandated during the COVID pandemic.
That’s significant growth compared to the 335,000 visitors recorded in 2024, and we’re now close to the all-time record number of visitors recorded just before the pandemic in 2019: 373,000.
As a matter of fact, if the show manages to hold the same growth rate in 2026, it’ll beat that record with 379,000 visitors.
The show also drew 1,568 exhibitors from 72 countries, with a foreign share of 70%, with the international participation at an all-time high. The number of trade visitors was over 34,000. The countries recording the strongest growth in visitors were the US, China, Canada, and Japan.
The show’s digital reach also beat all records, with over 630 million viewers worldwide watching Gamescom content and 72 million enjoying Opening Night Live, up 80% year-on-year.
Around 80,000 visitors also enjoyed the Gamecom City Festival in downtown Cologne on Saturday and Sunday.
The press release included a comment from Felix Falk, Managing Director of game – The German Games Industry Association:
“gamescom 2025 sets new standards. Bigger, more diverse and more international than ever before, the most important festival of gaming culture underscores the positive force that games, the industry and the global community represent.”
Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse, also commented.
“gamescom 2025 has once again set a new standard for large-scale international events. gamescom combines business and entertainment like no other event worldwide, as shown by the 1,568 exhibitors spread across 233,000 square meters of gross exhibition space. With record figures once again in nearly every category, the enormous variety of experiences and global participation, gamescom is the most important event for the global gaming community.”
Simulation Daily was on the show floor interviewing developers and playing the upcoming games, and you can expect plenty of content on our site and YouTube channel (to which you should definitely subscribe, not to miss a single interview) starting tomorrow.
Gamescom 2026 will be a little later in August, between August 26 and August 30, 2026, preceded by Gamescom Dev between August 23 and August 25.
E3 may be gone, but those who believed that was an indication of the end of the appetite for in-person gaming shows are now being proven wrong year after year.
The next stop is Tokyo Game Show 2025, which is likely to generate plenty of interest as well. We’ll be treading the show floor between September 25 and September 28. Of course, you can expect us to be there to create plenty of content that we hope you’ll enjoy.
