Gamescom never lets us down and this year’s edition was no exception. This world’s largest gaming event has long since become a key pillar of the global gaming sector. Gamescom 2023, as it does every year, served as the connection hub for the entire gaming industry’s ecosystem, from gamers and enthusiasts to game developers, publishers, hardware manufacturers, cybersecurity service providers and many more.
At last month’s show in Cologne, Germany, Gamescom 2023 drew 320,000 participants, including over 31,000 trade visitors and 1,227 exhibitors. Here is the fascinating recap in case you missed it or want to relive the buzz from a month ago.
Every year at Gamescom, we are all too familiar with the presence of gaming giants, but independent developers are on the rise and have established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. This year, a large number of indie games – including Inescapable, Pepper Grinder, Harold Halibut, Luna Abyss and Abiotic Factor to mention a few – took center stage during the event, in addition to the appearance of AAA studios and their big game announcements.
Given that the indie games sector is gradually asserting its position in the industry with high grossing and popularity, we have reasons to anticipate their explosion at next year’s event.
The concept of cloud gaming has become popular in recent years and this year’s event served as a kind of affirmation of this development. The idea behind cloud gaming is that everyone with a digital device and an Internet connection can stream and play games from anywhere. In certain instances, such as GeForce Now, you can also play games you already own, via their cloud service. This provides convenience for players and may be one of the factors helping cloud gaming attract attention.
At Gamescom 2023, big corporations like Samsung and Microsoft continued to demonstrate their intention to advance cloud gaming by making significant investments in it. A few recent innovations in this field were also displayed at the event.
With the explosion of the cryptocurrency market and blockchain technology in recent years, the gaming world is also becoming more familiar with three new concepts of crypto, Non-fungible Token (NFT) and blockchain games. More and more developers are using cryptocurrencies and NFTs in their titles as in-game currency or items. This popularity, however, was not presented at Gamescom this year.
The segments of crypto-, NFT- and blockchain-based games showed signs of cooling off compared to the explosion a year or two prior, with this year witnessing an even sparser appearance of these titles.
We may all be aware that since at least 2022, Netflix has been developing a AAA game with former Overwatch producer, Chacko Sonny. This as-yet-unreleased title is said to be a live-service game and is intended to serve as a hook for the streaming giants to enter the competitive gaming sector.
It is still questionable whether Netflix will release their very first title anytime soon considering the development is still in its early stages. However, their attendance at Gamescom 2023 may confirm their bold plans to broaden their entertainment empire into a new market. There could be a more significant announcement at Gamescom 2024, we never know.
Asian game studios and their products are becoming far more well-liked in Western markets. The overwhelming response of Gamescom attendees to the new game Black Myth: Wukong – which resulted in a five-hour wait to experience it – was one indication of this success. Some other Asian companies also had such impressive introductions during the event.
Denuvo was able to make headlines for its appearance at Gamescom 2023 even without making flashy game announcements by bringing the most cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions. During the event, Denuvo by Irdeto proudly announced the launch of two new features: Unreal Engine Protection and Integrity Verification.
Unreal Engine Protection is a first-of-its-kind solution designed to prevent malicious users from manipulating games created using the Unreal Engine, the industry’s foremost real-time 3D creation tool for photoreal visuals and immersive experiences. Meanwhile, Integrity Verification brings more granular options to Denuvo Anti-Tamper by empowering developers to verify the integrity of their own game code, safeguarding against both static and dynamic tampering.
These two features can be used independently or in combination to strengthen the current state-of-the-art Anti-Tamper product by Denuvo.
Another encouraging development that Denuvo by Irdeto highlighted at Gamescom 2023 was the availability of its protection solutions as authorized Nintendo Switch middleware on the Nintendo Developer Portal (NDP).
The NDP provides useful materials for the development of software for Nintendo consoles and as the first security partner added to the portal, Denuvo’s Nintendo Switch Emulator Protection is now accessible for developers to protect games launching on the Nintendo Switch from piracy.
Did you miss the chance to speak with us at Gamescom 2023? Worry not! You can still have a chat with us anytime about your cybersecurity needs.
And don’t forget to follow our blog for the latest update on Gamescom 2024!
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