Great political interest at the opening of gamescom 2022 in Cologne

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08/25/2022 / gamescom

gamescom 2022 is officially open! After two years in which the world’s largest games event could only take place online due to the corona pandemic, numerous political guests of honor came to Cologne this year for the political opening. Among others, there were: North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, Michael Kellner, and Cologne’s Lord Mayor and Chairwoman of the Koelnmesse Supervisory Board, Henriette Reker. Federal Minister of Economics and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck was unable to be there due to the current situation regarding energy supply in Germany and was represented with a video message. On the official tours of the fair, more than 170 guests from politics got an overview of the current developments in the games industry. This was followed by the political opening in the Konrad-Adenauer-Saal of the Koelnmesse Congress Center North.


In the greetings, the special relevance of the games industry for Germany and the political measures to strengthen the location were highlighted, as was the joy that gamescom is finally taking place in Cologne again. Robert Habeck also made it clear in his video message that Germany, as a games location, must be politically supported with accompanying and expanded measures. In between, highlights from the “gamescom: Opening Night Live” show were shown, developers from Black Forest Games and Fein Games from Germany gave an insight into their work, Ubisoft demonstrated how they deal with the topic of environmental and climate protection in their companies and in their games and Microsoft, together with Samsung, showed the possibilities offered by cloud gaming. The one-hour opening event was moderated by the journalist and moderator Daniel Finger.
In 2022, gamescom will take place from Tuesday, August 23 to Sunday, August 28 in Cologne and online
© gamescom

Federal Minister Robert Habeck: “It’s good that gamescom is opening its doors again after a two-year break. The economy and “games” are closely linked, be it in start-up funding, location marketing or the recruitment of skilled workers. Our goal is to strengthen the creativity and innovative power of this exciting future industry and to further increase the added value in our attractive games location Germany.”

Hendrik Wüst, Prime Minister of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia: “gamescom is one of the most important platforms for computer and video games worldwide. Here in North Rhine-Westphalia, the major gaming trends can be experienced and the gaming community is granted an exclusive look into the future of the gaming world. Video games are a guarantee for innovations. They not only fascinate millions of players, but are also an important economic factor for our country and a source of inspiration for many other industries. North Rhine-Westphalia is the number 1 games state and I am delighted that gamescom can again take place this year with personal exchange.”

Felix Falk, Managing Director of game – Association of the German Games Industry, the co-organiser of gamescom: “gamescom is back! We are particularly pleased about the huge political interest and the signals it is sending out: Many political guests clearly emphasized that strengthening Germany as a games location is a long-term project in which further steps must be implemented. That’s right, because our race to catch up isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. That is why the subsidies must not be reduced now, as is currently being proposed in the government draft, but must instead be increased as needed so that we can become more competitive. Otherwise, we cannot catch up with locations like Canada or Great Britain, which have been strategically investing heavily in games as a key digital market of the future for many years.”
gamescom is organized jointly by Koelnmesse and game – the Association of the German Games Industry.
© gamescom

Henriette Reker, Mayor of the City of Cologne and Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board of Koelnmesse: “The good exhibitor participation and the historically high foreign share of over 75 percent underline how important Gamescom is internationally. Incidentally, the importance of Gamescom is also reflected in our city: Cologne is already an attractive location for the industry, which shows the diversity of the local companies: International heavyweights such as EA and ESL Gaming are based in Cologne, as are a large number of start-ups, Indie studios, initiatives and associations. So that trade fairs can continue to make the city and the state attractive for companies, I plead all the more for more planning security with a view to nationwide and regional measures against the pandemic.

Gerald Böse, CEO of Koelnmesse: “gamescom is one of THE flagship events at Koelnmesse. With it, we not only show how exciting digital offers and emotional on-site programs can be merged in the best possible way. gamescom is also an example of our efforts to make the trade fair business sustainable. It makes me – and the entire gamescom team – proud that after two purely digital events, gamescom is finally taking place in our exhibition halls again.”

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