This year’s Gamescom was a visual feast. Within the cavernous halls, studios and publishers brought their games to life with a combination of props, statues, and impressive constructions. While it’s impossible to get a sense of scale from photos alone, our gallery of Gamescom 2018 booths will give you an idea of those impressive show floors. If gaming ever needed a mecca, this was it.
Besides the props and statues, most booths also included vast banks of gaming PCs so that gamers could go hands-on with the latest previews of upcoming titles. Most of the hardware is supplied or sponsored by some of the biggest names in gaming, such as Asus ROG or Gigabyte AORUS, giving some red-carpet treatment to those who endure the queues. Well, if a red carpet was brightly lit with RGB LEDs.
Having a booth at Gamescom also gave some brands the chance to make a grand appearance in front of the games-buying public. That said, it wasn’t always a success – Facebook Gaming’s booth was notable for its lack of faces or games.
Some of the largest studios, such as Blizzard, went even further and built two booths at Gamescom 2018, in order to comply with local regulations. While the biggest spaces were reserved for the games, merch sales were restricted to just one of the 11 expo halls. Even so, there were plenty of eager fans hoping to score a convention exclusive or add to their collection of memorabilia.
Click on the images in the gallery below for a larger version
-
- The Nintendo booth was all about Splatoon and Smash
-
- Warface’s booth featured weapons from the game
-
- RTS game Conquerer’s Blade brought a full-size catapult to the show
-
- Total War: Three Kingdoms
-
- The Final Fantasy XIV booth. Who says MMOs are dead?
-
- Possibly the largest Keyblade in existence.
-
- Facebook Gaming’s booth was lacking in both faces and games
-
- Blizzard’s Starcraft II booth had this excellent Tychus statue
-
- The World of Warcraft booth had a Darkmoon Faire theme
-
- This statue loomed outside the Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice booth
-
- Part of Bethesda’s booth was used to demo the new Elder Scrolls mobile game
-
- This sinister creature loomed over the Remnant: From the Ashes booth
-
- The Forged were represented by this statue outside the Torchlight Frontiers booth
-
- The Torchlight Frontiers booth had a calm, tranquil feel, despite the huge queue
-
- Crowfall’s booth was heavily staffed by volunteer players excited to share their knowledge
-
- This panda-robot loomed outside the Biomutant booth
-
- Wargaming brought a full-size tank to the World of Tanks booth
-
- The Farming Simulator booth featured a full-size tractor and trailer
-
- Outside the expo halls, this beach volleyball court had been built on the tarmac.
-
- Some of the merchandise on sale was a little creepy
-
- Blizzard’s merchandise stand was a big draw, with some exclusive items
-
- Official merchandise for every major gaming franchise was available to buy
Kelley
I love all these booths, man they must cost an arm and a leg to set up plus get all staff their etc Crazy! Crazy good.
William Murphy
They do! I know one team who spent 100K+ on one for their first show. But the kicker is you get to “keep it”, so you can use it again.