Cologne, Germany’s annual videogames confab gamescom has closed its second consecutive all-digital edition, increasing its viewership by 30% over 2020 as more than 13 million industry pros and fans from 180-plus countries tuned in across the full program. These numbers are set to increase as the recorded 2021 sessions remain available to watch online. The Opening Night Live alone (rebroadcast in 1,500+ co-streams in a variety of languages) increased about 25% to 5.8 million viewers, the reach of “Awesome Indies” more than doubled to half a million viewers, and access to the festival via Steam grew 43% to over 1 million virtual visitors.
In 2021, the community was very active due to new formats: together, fans solved all 30 quests as part of gamescom EPIX, winning numerous prizes from the gamescom VAULT for tens of thousands of gamers. Fifteen thousand players took part in the Indie Arena Booth Online’s interactive game, 500 of whom spent extra time in the “Summer Camp of Doom” and reached max level 50. In addition, the community donated a total of almost 7,000 euros to the gamescom forest climate and preservation project.
“gamescom 2021 has relied entirely on the power of the community. Whether co-streaming gamescom: Opening Night Live, joint quests at gamescom EPIX or even our fundraising campaign for the gamescom forest: the many shows, campaigns and the central content hub gamescom now were used millions of times by the community worldwide,” said Felix Falk, Managing Director of games – the Association of the German Games Industry. “In addition, we created a particularly large number of interaction opportunities this year in order to create the incomparable atmosphere of gamescom digitally as well. I am very pleased that gamescom 2021 with its many further developments was so well received. This makes it a great success for us and all the partners involved.”
As well as offering unique experiences for games fans, the event’s leading conference for the European games industry — gamescom congress — presented 35 program tracks and welcomed 56 experts (equally split between women and men) to discuss the potential applications of computer games in society and business. About 118,000 people followed the two-day program. This new attendance record was achieved in part with the support of Twitch. Many presentations can still be watched on gamescom.now.
The devcom Developer Conference 2021 was also a great digital success and brought together over 2,000 trade visitors from as many as 87 countries for the first time. In total, more than 250 speakers offered exciting talks, panels and fireside chats, which is around 50% more content than last year. The conference’s diverse program also offered over 55 hours of live streaming on Twitch and was watched by around 200,000 people.
As for the gamescom awards 2021, which presented honors in 22 categories during Opening Night Live (hosted by Geoff Keighley) and during gamescom studio, jury members and fans agreed on the year’s big winner: Elden Ring. The jury awarded the title Best Action Adventure, Best Role Playing Game, Best Sony PlayStation Game and crowned it with the main prize Best of gamescom. The gamescom fans further chose Elden Ring as their most hotly-anticipated title.
This year’s winners are:
Platform
Best Microsoft Xbox Game: Halo Infinite, Microsoft
Best Nintendo Switch Game: Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, Ubisoft
Best PC Game: Syberia: The World Before, astragon Entertainment
Best Sony PlayStation Game: Elden Ring, FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Europe
Genre
Best Action Adventure Game: Elden Ring, FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Europe
Best Action Game: Far Cry 6, Ubisoft
Best Family Game: Super Dungeon Maker, rokaplay
Best Indie Game: Lost in Random, Zoink Studios / EA Originals
Best Role Playing Game: Elden Ring, FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Europe
Best Simulation Game: Park Beyond, Limbic Entertainment / Bandai Namco Europe
Best Sports Game: Riders Republic, Ubisoft
Best Strategy Game: Age of Empires IV, Microsoft
Best Multiplayer Game: Halo Infinite, Microsoft
Best Ongoing Game: Apex Legends, Electronic Arts
Most Original Game: Dice Legacy, DESTINYbit / Ravenscourt
Consumer Awards
Best Streamer: Fextralife
gamescom “Most Wanted”: Elden Ring, FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Europe
gamescom global Awards
Best Announcement: Saints Row, Volition / Deep Silver
Best Lineup: Bandai Namco Europe
Best of gamescom: Elden Ring, FromSoftware / Bandai Namco Europe
Best Trailer: Saints Row, Volition / Deep Silver
Heart of Gaming Award: Let’s Play 4 Charity
gamescom 2022 will take place in Cologne and online from August 24 to 28.
