gamescom 2026 kicks off with its opening night on August 25, and the show floor opens the next day. Five days of conferences, playable demos, and announcements, several of which concern games we follow all year on this site.
Timezones, the confirmed lineup, rumors to set aside, and the schedule for the games that interest us most.
Mark your calendar: August 25 at 8pm, before the show floor even opens
The Opening Night Live of gamescom 2026 kicks things off on Tuesday, August 25. The pre-show starts at 7:30pm Paris time, and the main broadcast begins at 8pm CEST. Expect around two hours of programming, not counting the thirty-minute pre-show.
Geoff Keighley hosts this second annual edition of the ONL. The broadcast is free on The Game Awards’ YouTube and Twitch channels, as well as on gamescom.global.
One detail often escapes players in a hurry. The show floor only opens the next day, from August 26 to 30 in Cologne. The ONL is therefore held the night before, outside the show’s official hours. gamescom.global’s banner settles the confusion by placing both dates side by side: « #gamescom 26.-30.08.2026 » and « gamescom ONL: 25.08.2026 ».
The equivalent times for the main broadcast, depending on where you’re watching the live stream from.
| Timezone | ONL time |
|---|---|
| Paris (CEST) | 8:00 PM |
| London (BST) | 7:00 PM |
| New York (EDT) | 2:00 PM |
| Los Angeles (PDT) | 11:00 AM |
Five games already confirmed for the night
Five games are confirmed for the gamescom 2026 opening night lineup. The official list, no guesswork.
- Ananta
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Songs of the Past
- Final Fantasy VII Revelation
- ONTOS
- Game of Thrones: War for Westeros
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Songs of the Past will show its first footage there. CD Projekt’s expansion, announced in May then gone quiet since, finally returns to the spotlight. Final Fantasy VII Revelation shares the bill with it, on Switch 2 this time. PlaySide will meanwhile unveil its gameplay on August 25 for Game of Thrones: War for Westeros. Ananta and ONTOS round out the list, with no further detail provided at this stage by their respective studios.
The night’s promotional visuals play the game of insinuation. One places Geoff Keighley alongside Geralt of Rivia, the other alongside Sephiroth. Two barely disguised nods to Songs of the Past and Final Fantasy VII Revelation, before the studios have said a single official word.
Three other names are circulating without official confirmation. Onimusha, Dune: Awakening, and Silent Hill: Townfall keep coming up in every discussion around the event. Konami has promised a new trailer for Townfall on the occasion, a strong signal but not a confirmation. None of the three appear on the official list for now, and nothing guarantees they’ll show up on August 25.
The rest of the week, game by game
gamescom 2026 runs from August 26 to 30 in Cologne. The opening night grabs the attention, but several events are spread across the five days, and announcements keep coming well after the kickoff.
August 25: Path of Exile 2 and The Witcher 3
Grinding Gear Games holds a slot that day and occupies a booth in Cologne, Hall 6.1 stand B031, where a playable demo awaits visitors. The studio detailed what GGG actually promised for Path of Exile 2, and the distinction between what’s confirmed and what’s assumed is worth the detour ahead of 1.0. The same day, CD Projekt Red gives a first look at Songs of the Past, the expansion for The Witcher 3.
August 26: Fable, no controller
Playground Games takes the stage the next day. No controller handed to the public: the studio takes the wheel and shows off its combat system live. The details of this demo are in our article on Fable and its combat on August 26.
August 27: a release right in the middle of the show
Star Wars Zero Company, developed by Bit Reactor under the Lucasfilm Games and Electronic Arts banner, releases that day. Launching a game in the middle of Cologne’s show week remains an unusual scheduling choice.
Silent Hill: Townfall rounds out the picture with a new trailer promised for the event. The game releases on September 24, a month after the show. Konami therefore chose gamescom to show new material ahead of that date, without announcing a precise time for this broadcast.
gamescom 2026: a show bursting past its own walls
233,000 square meters. The entire exhibition space of gamescom 2026 is sold out, a first in eighteen editions. More than 1,600 exhibitors from 67 countries share the space, and 70% of them come from abroad.
Forty-seven national pavilions represent 40 countries this year. Five newcomers join the list: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Morocco, Nigeria. Wildcard tickets and Saturday tickets are also sold out.
German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will open the show. No German head of state had made this trip before him. Organizers are already studying a hall extension for 2027, as demand has outstripped the capacity of the world’s largest video game trade show.
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Exhibition space | 233,000 m² (about 33 football fields), 100% sold out |
| Exhibitors | More than 1,600, from 67 countries |
| International share | 70% of exhibitors |
| National pavilions | 47, representing 40 countries |
| New pavilions | Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Morocco, Nigeria |
| Editions | 18th edition, first time completely sold out across the whole floor |
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