Gamescom 2022: How to watch, schedule, attendees, and what to expect

Gamescom is one of the biggest annual video game events, as many of the industry’s largest developers reveal what they’re working on. Gamescom is returning for 2022 in person, and is promising fans a close look at what big name publishers like Xbox and Ubisoft have in store, as well as what smaller indie developers are working on.

Here’s everything you need to know about Gamescom 2022 ahead of the start of the event, including an overview of what it is, a look at the Gamescom 2022 schedule, and details on how you can watch livestreams of each conference and event. 

What is Gamescom 2022?

Gamescom, similar to the E3 show in North America, is a large convention that invites gamers to go to the Cologne Trade Fair exhibition center in Cologne, Germany and check out the latest reveals and showcases from developers and publishers from all over the world. In addition to hosting hundreds of thousands of attendees and giving them a chance to go hands-on with upcoming games, Gamescom also features various livestreams that allow fans at home to check out the show.

Notably, 2022 is the first year since 2019 that a physical Gamescom event has been held. Due to health and safety concerns brought about by the pandemic, Gamescom was virtual-only in 2020 and 2021. 

Games shown off during Gamescom are typically playable on several or all platforms, including Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch. However, developers and publishers may also reveal or spotlight titles that are partially exclusive to a select few platforms, or fully exclusive to one of them.

Gamescom 2022 schedule and dates

Gamescom 2022 takes place over a week. This year, it kicks off Tuesday, Aug. 23, and ends on Sunday, Aug. 28. It starts with the Opening Night Live show and concludes with the final day of the Gamescom City Festival.

There will undoubtedly be smaller Gamescom events and streams throughout the week, though the schedule below focuses on the main showcases that fans can look forward to. Note that Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and Activision Blizzard have all confirmed they will not be attending Gamescom 2022.

How to watch Gamescom 2022

All four of the major game showcases planned for Gamescom will be livestreamed so you can view the announcements and reveals as people in person at the event do. Here’s a guide on how you can watch each event, as well as an idea of what you can expect from each of them.

Opening Night Live

Gamescom’s Opening Night Live show is hosted by none other than Geoff Keighley, and based on everything we know about the event so far, it sounds like he’s kicking off Gamescom with a bang. According to recent tweets from Keighley, fans can expect to see appearances from games like Return to Monkey Island, Sonic Frontiers, High on Life, Hogwarts Legacy, The Callisto Protocol, The Expanse: A Telltale Series, Gotham Knights, The Outlast Trials, and more.

Here’s where you can watch Opening Night Live:

Future Games Show

The GamesRadar-hosted Future Games Show returns for Gamescom 2022, and will feature roughly 50 games from publishers such as Team17, 505 Games, Prime Matter, and others. We don’t know many specific details about the event yet but expect a ton of indie game announcements and trailers.

Here’s where you can watch the Future Games Show:

Xbox Booth Live

While Microsoft isn’t holding a full Xbox conference this year, there will be a six-hour Xbox Booth Live show with developer interviews, discussions, and gameplay showcases. According to Microsoft, you can expect to see Microsoft Flight Simulator, Gunfire Reborn, Sea of Thieves, Lies of P, High on Life, Grounded, Pentiment, A Plague Tale: Requiem, Minecraft Legends, Planet of Lana, and Age of Empires 4.

Here’s where you can watch the Xbox Booth Live show:

Awesome Indies Show

Gamescom 2021’s Awesome Indies Show is returning for Gamescom 2022, with the festival’s website confirming that fans “can once again look forward to exclusive trailers, gameplay and a unique arrangement” during the event. You can expect to see some brand new indie games coming later in 2022 and beyond, including titles from publishers like Team17, Thunderful, and Raw Fury.

Here’s where you can watch the Awesome Indies Show:

Gamescom 2022: The biggest publishers attending

Both in and outside of the big livestreams mentioned above, we expect to get closer looks at several games coming from some of the industry’s biggest publishers. 

Ubisoft

Ubisoft is one huge developer and publisher that has confirmed it will be at Gamescom. The studio may not host an event since it has a Ubisoft Forward show planned for early September (opens in new tab), though we won’t know for sure until Ubisoft provides some details. 

In any event, we may see more from games like Skull and Bones or the ambitious Assassin’s Creed Infinity. We’ll also likely see Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, the Splinter Cell remake, or the free-to-play shooter The Division Heartland. If the stars align, Beyond Good and Evil 2 could appear, although rumors say that game is still a ways out.

2K Games

It’s very likely that 2K Games will have some DLC for Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands to show off, especially since we haven’t heard anything about the planned “Glutton’s Gamble” release since developer Gearbox revealed the game’s roadmap alongside the Coiled Captors DLC in April 2022. We’ll also likely see footage from the upcoming New Tales from the Borderlands game (details leaked earlier this week on Amazon) or the recently-delayed superhero title Marvel’s Midnight Suns. In the biggest stretch, we may also catch a glimpse of the new BioShock game 2K confirmed was coming in 2019.

505 Games

505 Games has announced it’s bringing an “amazing line up” to Gamescom 2022. In addition to the FPS roguelike Gunfire Reborn that the publisher is showing during the Xbox Booth Live stream, we also expect to see the Eiyuden Chronicles RPG and Among the Trolls, a survival action-adventure title set in a Finnish forest. We could see Miasma Chronicles as well, which is a brand new turn-based exploration RPG set in the near-future.

THQ Nordic

THQ Nordic has confirmed it’s showing a wide variety of new games at Gamescom, including the Alone in the Dark reboot, Outcast 2, Wreckreation, Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake, SpellForce: Conquest of Eo, The Valiant, Tempest Rising, and AEW: Fight Forever. Attendees will be able to play demos of these titles, though it’s unclear if fans will get to see them during a stream.

PLAION

The game everyone expects PLAION (formerly known as Koch Media) to spotlight at Gamescom is the Saint’s Row (2022) reboot, which is slated to launch on Aug. 23 — the same day that the festival begins. We may also see The Chant, a third-person horror game set to release on Nov. 11, and looks at Goat Simulator 3 and Payday 3, both of which are releasing in 2023. 

Bandai Namco

We’re begging Bandai Namco to tease some Elden Ring DLC this Gamescom — we want more reasons to dive back into what is easily one of the best Xbox games ever made — but even if that doesn’t happen, the publisher likely still has some good stuff in store. We wouldn’t be surprised to see the One Piece Odyssey RPG, the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle remake, or the multiplayer survival game Dragon Ball: Tie Breakers.

Warner Bros.

Beyond the appearances of Hogwarts Legacy and Gotham Knights that we know are coming during the major Gamescom 2022 showcases, we might get a look at the upcoming Suicide Squad game expected to release in 2023. With the free-to-play platform fighter MultiVersus blowing up the internet lately, it also wouldn’t surprise us if we got a sneak peek at some upcoming MultiVersus characters.