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Newsweek
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Gamescom Co-Organizer Says 'Maybe There's No Need' for a US Version of the Show
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors Every year, nearly half a million games developers, publishers, journalists, and gamers descend upon Cologne, Germany for Gamescom, the world's largest gaming event. The show has been running for over 15 years, and is set to return next week, with a massive turnout expected. In the years since Gamescom's inception, the show has expanded outside of just Europe — in 2021, Gamescom expanded to Asia, and now holds an annual show in the region, while 2023 saw the introduction of Gamescom Latam in Brazil, which has been expanding ever since. A photo shows visitors at the Gamescom video games trade fair in Cologne, western Germany on August 22, 2024. A photo shows visitors at the Gamescom video games trade fair in Cologne, western Germany on August 22, 2024. Ina FASSBENDER / AFP With Gamescom seemingly becoming the only name left in the game for big gaming events around the world, many have wondered if a US Gamescom show could be on the cards, especially in the wake of the collapse of E3. Unfortunately for many in the US, that doesn't seem to be on the cards anytime soon, in part because, as its organizers say, Gamescom is already reaching a global audience without it. In an interview with DBLTAP, Felix Falk, the managing director of co-organizer German Games Industry Association – also known as game – said that a US version of Gamescom could happen if the US industry really wants it, but that it probably wasn't necessary. "I don't know honestly," Falk told DBLTAP. "If the industry in the US wants a global event with us – that would be something they would need to decide if they do want this. Maybe there's no need for it while everyone comes to gamescom, and this is the global main event. Because, as [Gamescom director Tim Endres] just said, after having 64 countries participating in gamescom last year, it's 72 now – the international reach is growing every year. It's the global event for the games industry already." Falk said that there was an opportunity in Southeast Asia and Latin America to reach a network of developers and games associations that otherwise wouldn't be included in these big gaming events, creating an appetite for more localised events. The result was Gamescom Asia, which is set to take place in Thailand later this year, and Gamescom Latam, which was held in Sao Paulo in May. "I think it's a question of what the industry needs," Falk said. "In Southeast Asia and Latin America, we were in close contact with our partners there and with the industry, not only our members, but also the local industry, with the associations, noticing that there is a need for a global event like gamescom joining forces with local events and making a gamescom Asia and gamescom LATAM." Gamescom is set to take place in Cologne, Germany next week, from August 20 to August 25, 2025. The show will officially open with a livestreamed presentation from The Game Awards' Geoff Keighley called Opening Night Live, set to take place at 2pm EDT on August 19.
Local Germany
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Germany
West German foothold of far-right AfD shows challenge for Merz
Once a bastion of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) in Germany's industrial heartland, the town was a rare example of the Alternative for Germany (AFD) topping the vote outside its strongholds in the former East Germany. Despite its designation as extremist by the country's intelligence services, the AfD's growing strength poses an immediate challenge to incoming conservative chancellor Friedrich Merz, who takes office on Tuesday. In the doorway of the pizza delivery service where he works, Mehmet -- who asked that his real name not be used -- puts the AfD's popularity in Gelsenkirchen down to immigration. Opposite his workplace is a building housing many recent migrants from Romania and Bulgaria, who Mehmet says typify the challenges in integrating new arrivals. A graffiti of football club FC SChalke 04 is seen at an abandoned house in the Schalke neighbourhood, where southern Europeans used to live, in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany on April 28, 2025. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP) "The number of immigrants has gone up, there are people who don't speak German, who are very different culturally," he said. "When you go out at night, you see very few Germans. In some places, it's better to not leave home after 8 pm," Mehmet added. For Brigitte, 77, making her way through town with a walking frame, agreed that the town was not as secure as it used to be. Advertisement "I've had my purse stolen three times," she said, adding that she no longer felt safe going out in the evenings. 'Difficult to live together' Gelsenkirchen's former prosperity was built on the coal and steel industries, as in cities and towns across the Ruhr region. But in contrast to many of its neighbours, Gelsenkirchen was not able to reinvent itself as heavy industry dwindled. It now has Germany's highest unemployment rate, at 14.8 percent, almost three times the national average. Half of all children are at risk of poverty, compared to one in five nationally. An abandoned house in the Schalke neighbourhood, where southern Europeans used to live, is pictured in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany on April 28, 2025. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP) Its population has fallen from 400,000 in the early 1960s to just 272,000 now, 75,000 of whom do not have German nationality. When Germany lifted employment restrictions on Bulgarians and Romanians in 2014, many of those who moved to Gelsenkirchen ended up in cheap but neglected apartment buildings and struggled to find work. "They don't have any chance of finding a job and so it becomes difficult for everyone to live together," said the town's SPD MP Markus Toens, who won direct election rather than the party list vote won by the AfD. As EU citizens, Romanians and Bulgarians have the same rights to welfare support as Germans, and Toens would like to see the rules on this toughened at a national level. Advertisement 'People are unhappy' The AfD, which won just over 20 percent of the vote nationwide and will be the biggest opposition party in the next parliament, has been quick to capitalise on people's frustrations. Its lead candidate in municipal elections in September, Norbert Emmerich, is standing on a platform of "cleanliness, order and security". "Our success is a reflection of the fact that people are unhappy," Emmerich told AFP. Laura Rosen, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) candidate for Lord Mayor for the 2025 local elections, poses for a photo in the city of Gelsenkirchen, western Germany on April 28, 2025. (Photo by Ina FASSBENDER / AFP) The lead candidate from Merz's CDU, Laura Rosen, also said the town "hasn't been able to cope with integrating" recent immigrants. Rosen, 32, remembers that when she was at school, "there were seven immigrant children out of 25. Now it's 24 (out of 25)." The town has a long history of immigration, from Poles to Turks such as Mehmet's ancestors, and more recently refugees fleeing wars in Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine. The latest waves of immigration have coincided with a worsening in the job market. "There are barely any good jobs left in Gelsenkirchen," said Darko Manojlovic, president of the works council at the BP refinery that employs 2,000 people in the area. Even those jobs are now under threat, as the British energy giant says it plans to reduce its refining activities in Germany.
