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Gamescom is returning as an in-person event for the first time in three years, with a new focus on its environmental impact.
Earlier today, Gamescom officially announced its on-site return to Cologne, Germany, later this year in August. The in-person event will officially run between August 24 and 28, marking the first time that Gamescom has held an in-person event since August 2019.
This time though, Gamescom's in-person event will be combined with an "extensive digital program," according to the event's press release. There aren't any details as to what this online presence could mean right now, but it's highly like that the Gamescom Opening Night Live showcase could return for the third year in a row, to open the festivities shortly before the in-person event.
Additionally, 2022's Gamescom will see the launch of the 'Gamescom goes green' initiative. According to the press release, the aim is to make Gamescom climate-neutral over both the medium and long term, through "reduction and avoidance of CO2 emissions and in the short term through carbon offset." The organization will offset its calculated emissions through a wind power project in northeastern Brazil, and clean cooking stoves in Nigeria.
Prior to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Gamescom was the biggest gaming event in Europe. Traditionally taking place in Cologne in late August, the festival boasted dozens of publishers and developers from the world over. Now that Gamescom is picking up in the wake of the pandemic, the organization is introducing new measures like extra-wide isles and a "hygiene and safety concept that has been tested and proven by Koelnmesse many times" will be deployed.
This is a huge contrast to E3 2022 being entirely shut down. After 2020's E3 being cancelled, and last year's show taking to an online-only format, E3 2022 has been called off entirely, while Gamescom is going ahead. The L.A.-based event has typically been one of the biggest in the world, but now Gamescom is going ahead, while it remains to be seen whether E3 will ever surface again.
