The annual Gamescom 2020 convention held in Cologne, Germany may have been canceled this year, but the COVID-19 pandemic won't stop the event from going online. Gamescom organizers have now confirmed a list of 85 total partners for its digital Gamescom 2020. The event will feature an opening night ceremony on August 27, followed by daily presentations through August 30 — all of it provided digitally for video game fans across the world.
Just over 10 of the 85 different partners for Gamescom were featured in an image shared by the organizers. These partners include Activision Blizzard, Astragon, Bandai Namco, Bethesda, Electronic Arts, ESL, Koch Media, Sega, Ubisoft, Wargaming.net, and Xbox. These partners were likely featured due to their size, though it's possible that their participation is planned to be larger than other partners, too.
Despite the surprisingly long list of partners, there are a number of large publishers that are notably absent from Gamescom's list. Tencent, Sony, Apple, NetEase, Google, and Nintendo are all major publishers that appear to be passing on Gamescom 2020. Capcom, Take-Two, Warner Bros. Interactive, and many others are also missing. It's not clear how many of these publishers would have participated in an actual convention, but many of those absent have held or are planning to hold digital events on their own.
While Gamescom did not provide any further information beyond the list of partners for the digital event, it previously provided an idea on the general structure of the digital Gamescom 2020. Everything will be organized with a hub website named Gamescom Now. Each day will feature developer interviews and game showcases, along with a wrap-up Gamescom Daily Show. There will also be a dedicated stream for smaller games and indies. Opening Night Live will start Gamescom 2020 and a Best Of Gamescom 2020 event will wrap it up.
The content shown during Gamescom 2020 will be a mixture of that produced by Gamescom itself and that made by its partners. So it's possible that Xbox will have its own presentation, followed by an interview with Phil Spencer, just for example. Partners can also have their own events alongside Gamescom, so a presenter could do an interview and show a trailer at Gamescom and then do a longer presentation on their own Twitch channel after.
2p Games
A2 Softworks / Cybernetic Technologies
Activision Blizzard
Aerosoft
Afterburner Studios
Alersteam
Alien Pixel Games
All in! Games
Altergaze
Anshar Studios
Assemble Entertainment
astragon
BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment
Bedtime Digital Games
Bethesda
BitComposer
Bossa Studios
Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik
Cenprom
Clever Plays
Curve Digital
Cybershoes GmbH
Dark Fracture
Dotemu
Drop Bear Bytes
East Games / Goblinz Studio
Electronic Arts
Egosoft
Enlightened Robot Entertainment
ESL
EXOR Studios
Fast Travel Games
Focus Home
Ford / Fordzilla
FRONTIER DEVELOPMENT
FusionPlay
Gamers Health United
Goldilock One
GPORTAL
Headup
Indie Arena Booth
IT Sonix
Khaylan Arts
Koch Media GmbH
Lootboy
Mass Creation
MediaMarkt e-Business
Merge Games
Mixtvision
Monster Couch
Neowiz
Novaquark
Numbermill
OWN3D media GmbH
Payload Studios
Piece of Cake Studios
Playtra
Proletariat
SATURN XPERION
Scavengers Studio
SEGA Europe
Shedofideas Game Studio
Streamheroes
Strictly Limited Games
Super.com
Tactical Adventures
The Fox Software
The Game Bakers
Thing Trunk
Third Shift Studios
Tin Can Studio
Toplitz Productions
Trusted Events GmbH
Twisted II Studio
Ubisoft
Varsav
Wargaming
Whisper Interactive (Xiamen) Co., Ltd.
Wired Productions
WP Merchandise
Xbox
Xeam Solutions
Yager Development GmbH
Yooreka Games
Zordix
Summer 2020 has been full of digital presentations between the Summer Game Fest and the Summer of Gaming, but Gamescom 2020's scope is significantly bigger comparatively. It's exciting to consider how Gamescom 2020 will come together, even if it ends up being somewhat messy.
Source: Gamescom