Gamescom might be over, but the organizers want to remind us just how wildly successful it was despite being only online for the second year in a row.
Gamescom brought in 13 million total viewers last week from 180 countries around the world. Most of those were watching Opening Night Live, the opening event hosted by Geoff Keighley and full to bursting with game trailers and exclusive announcements.
Opening Night Live had 5.8 million total viewers, with a peak concurrent viewer count of two million. Gamescom's opening stream also saw a 25% increase in co-streaming with a total of 1500 channels adding their own commentary (or just straight up rebroadcasting) Opening Night Live.
Another big success was Gamescom's Awesome Indies livestream, which saw 500,000 viewers look at amazing upcoming indie titles--more than twice as many viewers as 2020's indie stream.
And all those eyeballs translated into more people buying games on Steam. Gamescom's simultaneous Steam Festival drew over one million visitors, which represented a 40% increase over 2020.
"I am very pleased that Gamescom 2021 with its many further developments was so well received," said Felix Falk, managing director of games for the German Games Industry Association. "Gamescom 2021 has relied entirely on the power of the community. Whether co-streaming Gamescom: Opening Night Live, joint quests at Gamescom EPIX or even our fundraising campaign for the Gamescom forest: the many shows, campaigns and the central content hub Gamescom now were used millions of times by the community worldwide."
Gamescom was more than just great games--it was also an environmental cause. Gamescom Forest raised €7,000 (just over $8,250) to help rebuild a climate-resilient forest near the German town of Bayreuth.
Gamescom 2022 will return to live, in-person events in Cologne, France. The hybrid-style show will run from August 24 to August 28, and although there will be limited physical space for viewings, it's still expected to draw most of its crowd online.