Gamescom, one of the world’s three major game exhibitions along with E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) in the US and the Tokyo Game Show in Japan, ended on August 30. Held every late-August in Koelnmesse, Germany, Gamescom was held only online this year to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It opened on August 27 and was held for three days.
An online Gamescom in august
Koelnmesse, the organizer of Gamescom, announced that 1,000 B2B participants held 3,200 online meetings at the exhibition, and the devcom spectator exceeded 450,000. During the event, the number of online visitors who visited the website during the event exceeded 10 million, and the number of viewers of the opening ceremony Gamescom Opening Night Live exceeded two million.
In this exhibition, a large number of global game companies such as Activision Blizzard, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Sega, Bandai Namco Entertainment, Microsoft, and Insomniac Games participated. Spectators worried that Gamescom 2020 wouldn’t be successful because it was only held online this year, but as this year’s best masterpieces such as CDPR’s Cyberpunk 2077 and Blizzard’s MMORPG World of Warcraft (WoW) were released, concerns quickly disappeared.
Along with this, Korean game companies like Neowiz, Com2uS, and Dragonfly drew attention from many by releasing various new titles. First of all, Com2uS will release Summoners War: Chronicle’s play video was first released through Gamescom. Summoners War: Chronicle is a new project of Com2uS, an MMORPG that deals with the previous point of Summoners War: Arena of Heaven.
A first for Neowiz
In particular, Neowiz, participating in this exhibition for the first time, presented eight new games on the Gamescom stage. Neowiz has displayed four experimental indie games such as Skul, 8 Doors: Arum’s Afterlife Adventure, Blade Assault, and Metal Unit and PC package games like Bless Unleashed, Plebby Quest: The Crusades, and DJ Max Respect V.
Among them, the 2D action game Skul: The Hero Slayer is a hot game that has sold 100,000 copies in just one month from the early access of Steam (method of experiencing beta version after purchase before the official release). This is an unusual achievement for a Korean indie game. Skul is a roguelite genre side-scrolling game that strategically solves a single opportunity. Its complete pixel art graphics and action are the forte. Also, the unique system of changing the head of the main character Skul to transform into a new character is gaining popularity. In the Steam rating, 91% recommend the Skul.
Also, the PC package game 8 Doors: Arum’s Afterlife Adventure is based on the traditional Korean folktale The Story of Princess Bari. It depicts the adventures of a daughter who has doubts about her father’s death and goes into the underworld to discover the truth and find her father. The name of the game, 8 Door, is the gazebo where the dead stays with the grim reaper before being judged by the King Yeomla. Art graphics that bring out oriental colors while using only Korean materials and three colors of white, red, and black attract attention. It is produced with various console platforms besides Steam. You can experience the demo version at Gamescom.
Leading Game Company in Korea from Pangyo
Established in 1997, Neowiz is a leading game company in Korea, and has been leading the CT industry of Pangyo Techno Valley by moving to the new building in Pangyo Neowiz Pangyo Tower in 2014. Pangyo Technovalley is the Asia Tech Hub where more than 1,200 companies in IT, CT, and BT sectors with innovative products and technologies are gathered. Located just south of the Seoul metropolitan area, easy transportation access and infrastructure provides the best environment for Korean companies to conduct businesses.
On the other hand, Koelnmesse announced on August 30 that Gamescom will be held in an on-offline hybrid form in 2021 in Gamescom’s official website. According to the announcement, Gamescom in 2021 will be held from August 25 to 29, 2021 local time, and the game developer conference devcom held during GamesCom Week will be held on August 23 and 24.
