The highlights of Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026

Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 was a packed event, with no empty seats in the hall. Xbox head Asha Sharma and various gaming celebrities attended. Geoff Keighley's heartfelt speech acknowledged the industry's challenges, including layoffs and hardware price rises due to the AI components crisis, but praised developers for pushing forward.

The opening trailer showcased Hoyoverse, with games like Nodusfall, a co-op action title similar to Capcom's Monster Hunter franchise. Chinese and Korean companies were prominently featured in this year's event, with titles like Cinder City and Like or Die from NC, PUBG: Ded.Net from Krafton, and more. Final Fantasy 7: Revelation, launching in spring 2027 on all platforms, was introduced, along with Metro 2039, developed by 4A Games and set to release in February 2027.

The Witcher 3, along with its two expansions, will be given away for free to owners of the base game on September 29. CD Projekt Red also announced a new story expansion featuring Geralt with a new chain weapon. Other notable highlights included trailers for Exodus, Warlock, Exterminauts, Lego Skylines, Ontos, and 1001 Threads of Mizan, as well as Sega's Crazy Taxi World Tour and Turok: Origins. Indie highlights included Lofsöng, Dust: Origins, and Pony Island 2: Panda Circus.