East meets West on Gamescom
Visitors are seen at the Gamescom video games trade fair in Cologne, western Germany. Photo: AFP
A twisted futuristic "Call of Duty," Batman in Lego form, and the return of "Resident Evil's" ghoulish monsters had gamers salivating as the vast Gamescom trade show opens in Cologne, a spectacle shadowed by an industry still recovering from heavy job cuts and studio closures.
More than 5,300 fans packed one of the giant halls of Cologne's convention centre for the opening night, a record crowd according to organisers. The two-hour showcase of upcoming releases, headlined by Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 slated for November 14, underscored the draw of blockbuster titles.
Enlisting American actor Milo Ventimiglia — best known for roles in Heroes and This Is Us — the franchise's latest instalment throws players into a near-future conflict set against psychedelic backdrops reminiscent of Inception.
Footage from Requiem, the next chapter in the enduring Resident Evil horror saga, drew sharp gasps and cheers, while rambunctious space adventure The Outer Worlds 2 added colour to the night.
Nostalgia also had its turn, with director Jonathan Smith promising that 2026's new Lego Batman will carry fans back through "iconic moments and deep-cut references from decades of Batman TV shows, comics and games" — all in humour-laced plastic brick form.
Then came the unexpected: a teaser for Black Myth: Zhong Kui, the follow-up to last year's breakout Chinese hit Black Myth: Wukong. Rooted in folklore, the trailer showed a red-bearded ghost-catcher riding a tiger and flanked by demons.
Unveiled simultaneously online and in Cologne, the clip racked up more than nine million clicks on Chinese platform Bilibili within hours, even though no release date or in-game footage was announced.
Gamescom 2025, running through Sunday, hopes to recover the pre-pandemic crowds of 370,000 after last year's 335,000 turnout. With around 1,500 exhibitors, the show offers both industry insiders and fans a sprawling playground of hands-on demos, laser-lit stages, and surprise reveals.
Nintendo returned after a year's absence, riding high on the record-breaking launch of its Switch 2 console in June. Microsoft's Xbox division unveiled its portable console slated for release later this year. Sony, however, opted to skip the event, a notable absence in the year's biggest gaming gathering.
Streaming and television also found space in Cologne. The cast of Amazon Prime's hit game-to-TV adaptation Fallout teased the show's second season, set for release on December 17, underscoring gaming's widening impact on global pop culture.
If glossy franchises dominated the billboards, smaller teams also carved out space. After an eight-year wait, Hollow Knight: Silksong edged toward release, drawing cheers from indie enthusiasts. Canadian presenter Geoff Keighley, hosting the showcase, declared: "Such games prove something important: small teams with big ideas can change the industry."
Fans showed that spirit in their own ways. Clusters could be spotted wearing the red beret and striped shirt of characters from French indie hit Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. "It's a little bit of a community," said Cologne-based fan Vera Sperber, 36.
"When you see each other... you say hi, and everyone is smiling." A pause in the neon spectacle saw composer Lorien Testard and singer Alice Duport-Percier perform the haunting soundtrack from Expedition 33, drawing hushed attention before the thunder of the exhibition resumed.
Yet beyond the excitement, Gamescom's backdrop is one of contraction. Felix Falk, managing director of Germany's GAME industry association, acknowledged the scars. "The sector hasn't had an easy time of it in the last two years," he said.
"There was a lot of consolidation, job cuts, some studios closed, some projects ended prematurely. That's not unusual for the highly dynamic games industry but it's nevertheless not pretty when it happens," he told AFP.
The toll has been heavy. Tracking site Game Industry Layoffs counts nearly 30,000 jobs lost since early 2023, including more than 4,000 this year. Tens of thousands of livelihoods have been caught in the shakeout, even as global revenues remain robust. Data firm Newzoo forecasts the games market will hold steady at just under $190 billion in 2025.
China's new frontier
Against this uncertain backdrop, the Black Myth: Zhong Kui announcement carried extra weight. Although still in early development and without a release date, its unveiling marked another step in China's expanding presence on the global gaming stage.
The new title follows on the heels of Black Myth: Wukong, which was five years in the making before its August 2024 release. First teased in 2020, the game catapulted little-known studio Game Science into international prominence.
Upon launch, it topped Steam's charts with 1.4 million concurrent player hours, sold millions of copies, and was widely hailed as China's first true AAA game.
Celebrated as a cultural milestone, Wukong folded the Ming dynasty epic Journey to the West into immersive gameplay, winning applause at home and abroad. Beijing lauded it as a showcase for Chinese creativity and cultural export.
Some fans voiced frustration that Game Science launched a sequel rather than more downloadable content for Wukong, but the studio defended its choice. "A DLC would certainly be a good option," founder Feng Ji said on Weibo, "but what we really want is to create a brand-new Black Myth game — with new heroes, new gameplay, new visuals, new technology and a new story."
For Gamescom, the resonance of both Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Black Myth: Zhong Kui captures the dual nature of the industry: established Western franchises with blockbuster budgets sharing the stage with ambitious newcomers offering fresh cultural narratives.
For all its turbulence, the gaming world remains a stage where nostalgia and innovation, Western shooters and Eastern mythologies, big budgets and indie dreams all collide — leaving fans salivating for the next level.