Sawt Falasteen - Europe's gaming bash kicks off as industry eyes 'Grand Theft' boost

Fans and professionals will get a first glimpse at scores of new titles at a sold-out opening ceremony that begins at 8:00 pm (1800 GMT), which will highlight coming games for about two hours.

But even though "GTA VI" will not be among them -- its US maker Rockstar Games has its own plans for what could be one of the biggest game launches ever -- it will be on everyone's mind.

Nearly 360,000 people attended Gamescom last year, almost hitting the pre-Covid levels of about 370,000.

Visitors, many of whom dress up as their favourite characters, will be able to play new releases at hundreds of stations starting Wednesday.

Over 1,600 exhibitors will showcase more than 800 games, according to organisers.

Japan's Nintendo is to present "Nintendo Switch Sports Resort" and the Xbox division at Microsoft will show off "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4" and "Gears of War: E-day".

But another notable absence is Japan's Sony, maker of the PlayStation 5 console.

Rockstar meanwhile has scheduled a Netflix preview of "GTA VI" for Thursday ahead of its November 19 launch, which is expected to steal away some of the Gamescom spotlight.

- 'Too much' -

Some rival studios have pushed their releases forward to avoid clashing with "GTA VI", creating an unusually dense calendar of new games.

"It's a very crowded market," said Joost van Dreunen, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business and a specialist in the economics of video games.

"There's just too much for people to play."

At the same time, console prices have risen as memory chips become more expensive as a result of the AI industry's huge demand for computing power.

In the US video game market, for example, overall spending dropped 21 percent in June.

The combination of steep competition and pressure on profit margins has forced many studios to slash costs.

Nearly 10,000 people have lost their jobs in the gaming sector since January, and the industry is on course for 15,000 layoffs this year, according to the ASGC Games Industry Layoffs Tracker.

If reached, that figure would be close to the 2024 record, which followed a hiring boom during the Covid pandemic.

"The current focus is margins. Not just growth. Not just revenue. Margin growth," von Dreunen said.

"Every major decision follows from that objective."

B.AbuZeid--SF-PST