Sawt Falasteen - 'Call of Duty' to fire starting gun at Gamescom trade show

Around 5,000 people, including game publishers, developers and fans, will attend the evening launch ceremony, before hundreds of thousands of gamers descend on the western German city of Cologne later in the week.

Canadian TV presenter Geoff Keighley will from 8:00 pm (1800 GMT) introduce titles including "Call of Duty: Black Ops 7", one of two dozen instalments in the long-running series, as part of a two-hour showreel of the industry's upcoming blockbuster productions.

After a business and press day on Wednesday, Gamescom's doors will be flung open until Sunday to bring around 1,500 exhibitors together with swarms of fans, some of them dressed in elaborate costumes painstakingly drawn from the screens of their favourite titles.

While last year's event drew 335,000 visitors, organisers hope 2025 can bring it back to pre-Covid levels of around 370,000.

"We'll only know on the final day how many actually visited, but... the first day is sold out, all indicators are in the green," Felix Falk, managing director of Germany's GAME industry association that co-organises Gamescom, told AFP ahead of opening day.

- Hands-on time -

One of the major draws to the vast halls of the Koelnmesse convention centre is the opportunity for hands-on time with the feast of the latest releases at the vast stands laid on by major firms.

Nintendo is back after staying away last year, surfing on the success of its record-breaking Switch 2 console launch earlier this year.

And Microsoft's Xbox division will be showing off its own portable console, slated for release towards the end of the year.

But Japanese PlayStation maker Sony has elected to stay away in 2025.

Among the hotly anticipated games unveiled this edition are new episodes of horror sagas "Silent Hill" and "Resident Evil".

Indie hit "Hollow Knight" will get a sequel with "Silksong" after an eight-year wait, while Nintendo is cooking up "Metroid Prime 4", following up the beloved science-fiction action series.

Exhibitors may be less ecstatic than fans at this year's Gamescom as the industry endures an extended rough patch.

"The sector hasn't had an easy time of it in the last two years, there was a lot of consolidation, job cuts, some studios closed, some projects were ended prematurely," Falk said.

"That's not unusual for the highly dynamic games industry but it's nevertheless not pretty when it happens," he added.

Tracking website Game Industry Layoffs has tallied almost 30,000 job cuts since early 2023, with more than 4,000 this year alone.

But revenue in the global games market should hold steady at just under $190 billion this year, data firm Newzoo has forecast.

D.AbuRida--SF-PST