As in E3 2020, gamescom is going online with a visual display this year.
In line with the daily program a great article was broadcast and hosted by Geoff Keighley of The Game Awards fame. Other than that, the future Games Show returns to collect the week.
While Microsoft should announce something related to the Xbox Series S soon, there are no conference signs at the time of writing – so don’t expect much from them, or on the PlayStation, next week. The next price queue and dates are in progress!
Understandably, the gamescom games have won the most this year – which will take the ever-present list of E3 events, to be honest.
Gamescom 2020 conference schedule at a glance
This is where the entire Gamescom 2020 summit is set to go live by simply looking at:
| Gamescom 2020 | Conference Day (UK) | UK Time (BST) | EU Time (CEST) | East Coast US Time (EDT) | West Coast US (PDT) Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gamescom opens live night | Thursday, August 27th | 19:00 | 20:00 | 14:00 | 11:00 |
| Future Game Show | Friday, August 28th | 20:00 | 21:00 | 15:00 | 12:00 |
| gamescom Awesome Indies showcase | Saturday, August 29th | 18:00 | 19:00 | 13:00 | 10:00 p.m. |
Although gamescom will offer a daily program over the weekend, nothing is specified for those at the time of writing. Until then, here’s all we know about the upcoming weekend of gamescom:
Gamescom 2020 opening night live – Thursday, August 27th
- UK: 7pm (BST)
- Europe: 8pm (CEST)
- East Coast US: 2pm (EDT)
- West Coast US: 11am (PDT)
This year’s major showcom show will feature 38 games from 18 different publishers, “focusing on updates from the announced topics”, including a presentation of Doom Eternal’s DLC campaign, a look at Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War, The Destiny 2: Beyond Light, The Sims 4, Crash 4, and the second surprise season of the summer hit the Fall Guys.
Assisted by Geoff Keighley, the show arrives healthy for two hours long, and the pre-show with “extra world premieres” starts half an hour before the above times – all set aside for a side view of anything you have to have tea that night.
Next Time Show Time – Friday, August 28th
- UK: 8pm (BST)
- Europe: 9pm (CEST)
- East Coast US: 3pm (EDT)
- West Coast US: 12pm (PDT)
Hosted by Metal Gear Solid vocal actors David Hayter (Solid Snake) and Debi Mae West (Meryl), the Future Games Show returns with another night of “announcements, reviews, highlights and more”.
Its first E3 event this year featured the next game from the developer of Dreamfall Chapters Red Thread Games and the following of Bomber Crew and Serial Cleaner, so expect announcements in the same way.
Gamescom Awesome Indies – Saturday, August 29th
- UK: 6pm (BST)
- Europe: 7pm (CEST)
- East Coast US: 1pm (EDT)
- West Coast US: 10am (PDT)
The show, co-produced by IGN, amused viewers to “expect the unexpected”, with hand-held demos, engine lights and more. While no specific mention has been made of new revelations or announcements, it will be the first appearance of the recently announced Wonder Boy game at Monster World, as well as the new trailer for Away: The Survival Series.
What about the gamecom 2020 plans from other publishers?
This will be included in Thursday’s talk on the “full, long, uncut” sign for PS5’s Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, according to Geoff Keighley:
Don’t miss the landmarks @PlayStation 5 Ratchet & Clank Demo:
Outdoor Explosion @syabongampungos # ps5Watch @syabongampungos It opens live night, broadcasting Thursday at 8 pm CEST / 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT
Look at: https://t.co/FjoDbKUBkl pic.twitter.com/jPzzWO6Tiu
– Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) August 25, 2020
Xbox will never have a dedicated show again, shifting its focus from Xbox 20/20 monthly events to sharing “news in a variety of ways”.
These include appearing in a key gamescom gamecom on Thursday night, with a focus on Xbox Game Pass and ID @ Xbox games:
Make sure you allow all of this to be digital this year @syabongampungos!
Thursday, August 27th
11 am-1pm PT?
2pm-4pm ET ??Watch here: https://t.co/NRYyhsXo6i pic.twitter.com/wEtppVz0lf
– Xbox (@Xbox) August 25, 2020
As for Nintendo, while it started to do a lot around gamescom in recent years (last year set the Indie World broadcast time ahead of Xbox and Google shows) like PlayStation and Xbox, set expectations accordingly.
The only publisher confirming the broadcast this year is Ubisoft, with the second Ubisoft Forward event sometime in September.
