Daniel at the IGN booth at gamescom
Since the death of E3, the biggest expo on the videogame world calendar is now gamescom. Held annually in Cologne, Germany, gamescom is a five-day festival of digital entertainment. The enormous Koelnmesse venue hosts both a public expo and a B2B convention simultaneously, and stuffs it with over 350,000 visitors. Gamers, cosplayers, and industry professionals rub shoulders in the humid German summer, and wish for better advances in deodorant technology.
The days are long, with the show floor open 11 hours each day on the weekend. And the nights are long too, as Cologne's many beerhouses overflow with revellers drinking endless 200ml glasses of sudsy Kölsch beer. Daytime or night, this is where deals are forged and alliances made that will help shape the global game business for the next 12 months.
First IGN Japan Livestream
IGN produces the official gamescom studio livestream from a huge studio booth on the show floor. Until now, the stream was broadcast in English and German. But in 2025, for the first time, our team at IGN Japan were tasked with producing a Japanese version, bringing the best of gamescom 2025 to our audience in Japan.
We produced a simulcast of Geoff Keighley's annual Opening Night Live showcase, a two-hour show featuring announcements and updates on the biggest games. Some highlights this year include a surprise sequel to Black Myth: Wukong and updates on Ghost of Yotei and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
Our version of the stream included live on-the-fly Japanese translation, allowing our audience back home to follow along in detail, as well as reactions and impressions from our hosts.
Two Original Shows from IGN Japan
We then created two completely original 90-minute shows of our own from the show floor. These were packed with developer interviews, gameplay footage, and hands-on impressions, including games like Resident Evil Requiem and Pokémon Legends: Z-A. We also selected highlights from IGN's English-language livestream to publish on our channels with Japanese subtitles. Oh yeah, and we published dozens of written articles, too, ensuring our audience back home got all the timely updates.
Covering a show the size of gamescom in real-time is a heavy lift for a small team like ours, but with IGN's global resources to hand, we had an invaluable head start. Our team on the ground in Cologne focused on producing original video content, working hand in hand with our colleagues from IGN US, UK, and Germany. Meanwhile, the rest of our members back in Tokyo assisted with post-production and localization, and handled most of the written coverage.
We made sure our original version of the gamescom studio livestream looked the part as well, shooting in IGN's show-floor studio as well as locations around the gamescom venue, such as in front of Nintendo's mega-booth. And we used the same video graphics as our other global editions. All of this meant our Japan team could cover gamescom in a way that appealed to our local audience while making the most of IGN's world-beating access and visual style.
Lots of Games to Play
We also played a lot of games. I let my teammates handle most of the bigger titles. And they don't come much bigger than Resident Evil Requiem, the latest mainline entry in Capcom's classic survival-horror series.
Our editors Esra Krabbe and Hiroshi Noguchi played a demo of Requiem at gamescom. They explained how the game ratchets up tension by having the player find ways to light the darkness as they explore an abandoned hospital inhabited by a giant blood-hungry creature. Without weapons, the protagonist – FBI agent Grace Ashcroft – must use stealth to survive, and Noguchi in particular was able to skilfully navigate the darkened rooms, while Krabbe said he stumbled into the scenery and sent items crashing through the silence.
Noguchi was particularly impressed with the realism of the game's animation, an upgrade on previous Resi entries. And the pair discussed the game's gory moments with dread. It sounds like glorious terror awaits fans of this beloved series.
It's been a while since Nintendo had a full-scale presence at a show like gamescom, and the House of Mario's lineup was suitably impressive. Pokémon Legends: Z-A promises the series' biggest gameplay evolutions in years. Our team also went hands-on with high-profile new first-party games like Kirby Air Riders and Metroid Prime 4.
Finally, Hollow Knight: Silksong
Meanwhile, visitors finally got to try Hollow Knight: Silksong, the very, very, VERY long-awaited sequel to the 2017 indie smash hit. Silksong was first announced in the distant past of pre-pandemic 2019, and fans have been desperate for its release ever since. As announced at gamescom, it is finally being released on September 4. Meanwhile, several other indie games that were scheduled for that date have moved out of the way – making Silksong the Grand Theft Auto VI of indie games.
Even with a pre-arranged appointment, IGN Japan's Noguchi lined up for two hours for his Silksong demo at gamescom, where it was shown on both the Xbox and Nintendo booths. And while his play time was short, he praised the game's old-school approach, high difficulty level and bright pixelart visuals.
Latest from Grasshopper Manufacture
As for me, my game of the show was Romeo is a Dead Man. The latest game from Grasshopper Manufacture, the Japanese studio helmed by Goichi Suda (better known as Suda51), it features a brand new protagonist, Romeo Stargazer, an FBI Space-Time special agent on the brink of death, on an epic quest to rescue his Juliet.
In terms of gameplay, it picks up where Suda51's No More Heroes 3 left off, with ultra-violent videogame action presented in a clashing range of art styles, from Japanese anime to American comic book panels to B-movie stop-motion. The overwhelming demo came crammed with pop culture references – a weapon named after the Death Star from Star Wars, a boss named after a Morrissey song, a whole load of Shakespeare nods. It left me dying like Romeo for more.
I also enjoyed demos of Anno 117: Pax Romana, a city-building strategy game set in 117 AD where you play as a Roman officer colonizing the Celtic Britons and the marshlands of Albion. Another fun game was Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight. It's a darkly comic Caped Crusader action-adventure that pays a not-so-subtle homage to the combat system of Rocksteady's beloved Arkham game series.
Oh, and as a massive fan of the Alien movie series, I couldn't help being pulled into a booth promoting the new Disney Plus show Alien: Earth, where a crashed ship had littered the booth with barely contained and dangerous-looking extra-terrestrial specimens. The experience was brought to life by a cast of committed actors, and culminated in a much-expected but still cool Xenomorph-shaped jump-scare.
Indie Games of Every Stripe
Elsewhere, gamescom featured a huge indie game area with smaller-scale games of every stripe, which seemed to be bustling at all times. This was a great opportunity for the smaller developers showing their games. I didn't get to spend a lot of time playing here, but I saw some games like "heavy metal action roguelite" Grim Trials that I've enjoyed from previous events. I also made a note to check out the adorable feline photography game Cat Me if You Can, and Servant of the Lake, which was demoed inside a life-size replica of the horse-drawn carriage from the game – a truly innovative approach that made a lot out of a little.
This year's gamescom presented a new set of challenges for our editorial team at IGN Japan. It was a blast to try something new, and I think we smashed it. Events season is now well and truly in full swing, with Tokyo Game Show right around the corner.. So we'll take what we've learned and keep moving forward. Tune in next month for more!
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Author: Daniel Robson
Daniel Robson is the Executive Producer of IGN Japan. Follow his series, Gamer's World, on JAPAN Forward.
