Gamescom week 2026 preview: Who’s looking to make a splash?

The PocketGamer.biz team is once again in Cologne for what looks set to be the biggest Gamescom ever after the event sold out its expo floor space.

Before B2B conference Gamescom Dev and the full Gamescom show itself kicks off, we took a walk around the outside of the Koelnmesse and Cologne to see who's already looking to make a splash.

Over at the Confex, where Gamescom Dev will be taking place, Supercell is notably setting up a large presence.

Over the last couple of years the developer has grown its teams - the famously small cells - and has ramped up its Spark program as it looks to find entrepreneurs and build new games teams in its hunt for a new hit.

So at one of the world’s largest shows, Supercell is certainly putting itself out there.

The rest of the Gamescom Dev expo was still being built - we’ll report back with more on who’s making moves inside the show.

Over at the North Entrance, which is where many of the fans will enter the expo once it opens up to the public, there was a mix of international games across platforms getting their time in the sun. Some of the IPs also had the same spots last year.

Games included Astragon’s Bau-Simulator: Evolution (Construction Simulator: Evolution), Krafton’s Project Zeta, 4A Games’ Metro 2039, RGG Studio’s Stranger Than Heaven, Funcom’s Dune Awakening, Netease’s Sea of Remnants and Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma 2: Dark Arisen.

Other games included Rebel Wolves’ The Blood of DawnWalker, Grinding Gear Games’ Path of Exile, CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Songs of the Past expansion and Atlus’ Persona 4 Revival.

There was also a poster for Honor of Kings, covering the hit flagship title, as well as World, Ace and Arena of Valor.

Dune: Awakening and Honor of Kings: World had posters in the same area last year.

Along the main street passing outside the North and East entrances, Creative Assembly had two games on show: Total War: Warhammer 40,000 and Alien: Isolation 2.

Meanwhile just down the road and closer to the North entrance, Insomniac’s Wolverine took a billboard. Interestingly, it was right next to an ad for eBay Live.

Games commerce company Xsolla is also looking to make a splash. Just opposite the East entrance and near the Dorint hotel - where many of the industry professionals in town will pass by - the company has set up shop at the Design Post Köln. You can’t really miss it.

And just for good measure, Xsolla had ads elsewhere on the street and in the Hyatt Regency Hotel, too.

One notable marketing spot that was missing was the big banner between the North and East entrances. Last year, this was taken by Bloober Team’s Cronos: The New Dawn. So far, a couple days out from the start of the expo, the space remains empty.

We’ll provide more insights on who’s making a splash inside the conference and expo throughout the week. If I've missed any promos outside the show - I'm sure there are more around the city - let me know!

Lastly, for those that have been to Gamescom Dev (fomerly Devcom) before... welcome back to the steps.