World’s biggest gaming festival coming to Singapore

Gamescom, the world’s largest computer and video games festival, will make its Asian debut in Singapore from October 15 to 18, 2020. Gamescom has been held in Cologne, Germany, annually since 2009, and has grown to become an international platform for the gaming industry with over 300,000 attendees each year.

The event in Singapore will comprise a two-day industry gaming conference and a three-day trade and public exhibition, including esports events, emerging tech in video games, as well as gaming workshops, meet-and-greet sessions and cosplay theatrics. The festival will also serve as a platform for industry thought leaders, local and regional buyers, programmers, game designers and audio professionals to network and exchange insights with their international counterparts.

The event will be organised by Koelnmesse, and today, an MoU was signed between the agency and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to mark a partnership for the event.

“STB started discussions with Koelnmesse two years ago to develop an Asian edition of Gamescom in Singapore,” said Keith Tan, chief executive, STB. “Apart from adding vibrancy to our events calendar, we aim for Gamescom Asia to position Singapore as the natural base for the development and commercialisation of digital and gaming content, which in turn will support our digital media industry.”

Visitors at Gamescom 2018 try out the game Battlefield 5

Gwen Guo, chairperson of the Singapore Games Guild, told CEI that the event will be able to attract a global audience as well as publishers and investors from around the world, which could aid game developers with funding.

“Aside from that, there’s also a lot of content sharing. In Singapore, a lot of our developers are limited to local school knowledge, and it’s important to be exposed to what’s happening internationally as well,” she said. A hot topic she predicts will feature at the festival is blockchain.

She added that Singapore was considered as a destination because of the number of MNCs, independent development studios, and supporting development companies based in the city.  

Her statement is mirrored by Howie Lau, chief industry development officer for Infocomm Media Development Authority. “Gamescom Asia comes at an exciting time as we are witnessing strong growth in the Asian games market. This event will offer games companies access to new business opportunities and connect international publishers, developers and professionals with the thriving games market in the region,” he said.

Gamescom Asia will complement the other games-related events in Singapore including Singapore ComicCon, formerly known as the Singapore Toy, Game and Comic Convention, and GameStart Asia, a consumer video gaming convention.