At least Xbox is going (Microsoft)
Nintendo and PlayStation may not be attending Gamescom 2024 but Xbox are, as they hint at new game reveals for Opening Night Live.
Although both companies are worried about rising budgets and a lack of industry growth – and neither has released much in the way of first party games in the last couple of years – it’s fascinating how different the approach is between Xbox and PlayStation.
Earlier this week PlayStation confirmed that they wouldn’t be attending Gamescom 2024, although they never said why – especially as it coincides with the launch of the controversial Concord.
Nintendo isn’t attending either, but then they’re extra hard to predict at the moment, given the imminent launch of the Switch 2. Xbox will be there though, and Microsoft is claiming it will be their biggest presence ever at the show.
Although E3 was always primarily an industry event Gamescom is designed with ordinary people in mind, with last year’s event attracting over 320,000 visitors, making it the largest video games show in the world.
That makes it very hard to understand why Sony wouldn’t want to be there, especially as according to Microsoft their consumer stand will be their ‘biggest booth yet.’
The games confirmed for the event include Age Of Mythology: Retold, Avowed, Ara: History Untold, Diablo 4: Vessel Of Hatred, Diablo Immortal, The Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76, Towerborne, and World Of Warcraft: The War Within.
However, Microsoft also claim that they’ll have ‘more to confirm soon’, including ‘news from our partners’ – which suggests there’ll also be showing third party games at their stand.
Although the queues are substantial, many games are playable at Gamescom for ordinary visitors – although Xbox has not confirmed which ones yet.
Gamescom takes place between August 21 and 25 in Cologne, Germany but on the night before, on August 20, there’ll be another Gamescom ONL (Opening Night Live) event hosted by Geoff Keighley.
Keighley is the man behind Summer Game Fest and The Game Awards, and is a similar kind of preview event were new games and footage are shown for the first time.
It usually has the least amount of major announcements, of any of the three showcases, but there’s always something new and it’s more than possible that Microsoft could announce a new game or two, that then appear at the show the next day.
Other companies will use it for the same reason but at the moment there are no rumours on what exactly may be there. Except it definitely won’t be anything from Sony or Nintendo.
Avowed – maybe it’ll be playable at Gamescom (Xbox Game Studios)
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