« Our first response did not strike the right tone, and it did not show the people affected the empathy they deserved. We are sorry. » It took gamescom nearly a week to write that sentence. Its first reaction to the hardware thefts at indie booths had reminded the victims that security was optional and insurance was recommended.
What gamescom admits, a week later
The affair began in late August 2026. Several indie developers reported their hardware stolen from their booths in Cologne: laptops, Steam Decks, demo machines. On August 28, developer Ryan Laley posted on social media that all his laptops had disappeared. Other accounts followed the same pattern. We reported on this in our August 29 article on the ransacked booths.
Their first response consisted of two points, reported by Tom’s Hardware: booth security is optional, and taking out insurance is recommended. Many read this as shifting responsibility onto the victims, at Europe’s largest video game trade show.
Everything shifts in the second statement. Kotaku picked out another line: « We Understand What This Has Cost You, And We Should Have Said So From The Very First Moment. » The organization then announced a security overhaul and a round table with indie exhibitors.
No figure has been given for the total number of developers affected. Both statements focus on the tone used and on intentions for next year.
A round table, and one question left open
The round table changes at least the method. Consulting developers instead of reminding them that insurance existed is something the organization had not done until now. The stated goal, relayed by Console Creatures, is to build concrete measures together to prevent a similar wave of thefts next year.
That much is settled. The rest is still missing. No schedule has been published for this meeting, no list of participants, no concrete measures. And no compensation has been announced for the developers whose hardware disappeared, even though a stolen computer can take with it a demo build, work saved nowhere else, and show equipment already paid for in advance.
One detail the second statement leaves untouched. The organisers apologise for the tone of their first response. Nowhere do they say that booth security will stop being optional. The underlying position has not been dropped, only the way it was worded.
We contacted neither the organization nor the developers involved. The above is drawn from public statements and specialist press coverage. For the same edition, we had published the full gamescom 2026 schedule, Opening Night Live included.
The trade show calendar, meanwhile, keeps turning: the Tokyo Game Show is expanding to five days for its 30th anniversary. In Cologne, the promised round table still has neither a date nor participants.
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