Koelnmesse and the game association have announced Gamescom 2022 is returning to an in-person show, amidst pledges for an “extensive” digital program.

While Gamescom 2022 is returning to an in-person show, the annual expo will run from August 24th to the 28th at Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany.

As per the Koelnmesse COVID-19 guidelines, attendees can attend Gamescom 2022 by either having covid shots, have recovered from covid, or can provide a negative covid test upon entry.

To mitigate safety and COVID concerns, event organizers are using a “hygiene and safety concept” that has been tested and proven by their team “many times” and will be deployed for Gamescom 2022. Organizers are also using improved admission management, better digital queue management, wider aisles for queuing, and even limited ticket allotments.

As mentioned, Gamescom 2022 will have an “extensive” digital equivalent to the event, streaming worldwide – after two years of digital-only Gamescom events the organizers have adapted the event to have a more digital presence.

Here’s the gist of that Gamescom 2022 will entail:

• entertainment area and business area, as well as additional sections, including for cosplay, retro, and indie fans, with the unique festival feeling of gamescom on-site
• gamescom shows like gamescom: Opening Night Live, gamescom studios, and gamescom: Awesome Indies with a live audience on-site, as well as streams broadcast on numerous channels
• Bundled gamescom content on gamescom now
• Interactive quests on all gamescom channels and attractive rewards in the context of gamescom epix
• Many cooperative projects with international creators and media partners

The Entertainment Software Association said E3 2022 will be reportedly be online-only, due to concerns of the now long-forgotten “omicron variant” of COVID-19.

But as heavy restrictions for COVID-19 have been easing up worldwide, Los Angeles country has since updated their arbitrary restrictions to no longer require proof of covid shots for attendance (where E3 is held every year). After two years of a digital-only show, many are skeptical if E3 has relevance anymore, especially considering their fumbling with a digital presence.

This year’s Gamescom also starts their new “Gamescom Goes Green” initiative, where the entire event will be focused on being “climate-neutral” over both the immediate, near-future, and long term effects by trying to reduce their carbon emissions, and avoid services that produce them.

“All gamescom fans and partners have been waiting for this for two years: gamescom is finally returning to the Cologne exhibition halls, and thus also the unique festival feeling we had all been missing so much,” Felix Falk, Managing Director of game, the association of the German games industry said. “This year we are combining the best of both worlds: our extensive digital program with the incomparable gamescom experience on-site. In the process, gamescom is also once again setting new standards in 2022, for example, in matters of sustainability: with our ‘gamescom goes green’ initiative, we will make gamescom a special and climate-friendly event together with visitors and exhibitors. We thus want to not only be a lighthouse for the many initiatives for environmental protection and climate action in the international games industry, but also a pioneer for international events in general.”