Gamescom Exec Says They Have a Responsibility to Step Up Now that E3 is Dead
Written by admin on August 15, 2025
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William D’Angelo
, posted 13 hours ago / 868 Views
Gamescom executive Felix Falk in an interview with The Game Business discussed the relationship between E3 and Gamescom.
Falk is the managing director of Game, which is the German trade body which runs Gamescom, and stated there was never direct competition between E3 and Gamescom.
“We were in a great partnership with E3 through the years, and it was never a competition,” he stated (via VideoGamesChronicle). “It was more… announce your game at E3 and play it at Gamescom.”
The last E3 was the digital-only version in 2021, while the last in-person event took place in 2019. It was announced in December 2023 that E3 was officially dead.
Falk said the death of E3 has benefited Gamescom in some ways as they are now the biggest gaming event of the year.
“In some ways it was good because people expect us to be the major, global week for games with the highest visibility for everyone,” he said. “So that’s our responsibility to present a stage for the industry to fulfil this.
“This need is also a disadvantage because [Gamescom is] not so strong in the calendar. So sometimes we had to deal with the HQ teams more, as it needs to fit the global calendar for companies.”
Companies have returned to Gamescom over time to make their big announcement.
“In the past years, it was a struggle [to get people on board] and there was a lot of discussion with some of those companies,” he said. “But, if you see the line-up now, and who is part of Gamescom, almost everyone is there. So, we were successful in getting everyone – well almost everyone – back to Gamescom.”
Gamescom 2025 will kick off with Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 19 starting at 11:00 am PT / 2:00 pm ET / 7:00 pm UK / 8:00 pm CEST. It is expected to last about two hours.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D’Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
