When Is Gamescom and How to Watch Opening Night Live

Gaming’s biggest convention is back. This week, Gamescom 2026 kicks off in Cologne, Germany with an Opening Night Live showcase followed by a week of show-floor demos and events. Polygon will be in attendance at Gamescom this year, but gaming fans far and wide will be able to enjoy this year’s show from home, thanks to multiple streams and showcases.

Gamescom officially starts on Wednesday, but the show truly kicks off on Tuesday with Gamescom Opening Night Live, a showcase hosted by The Game Awards emcee Geoff Keighley. Some of the biggest publishers and developers in gaming, including Bandai Namco, Capcom, CD Projekt Red, Nintendo, Sega, Ubisoft, and Xbox, will be at Gamescom 2026, will be on hand to show off what’s new and what’s next.

As always, The Game Awards, Summer Game Fest, and Gamescom ONL favorite Hideo Kojima could also show up. It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything new about Kojima Productions’ new horror game OD.

Here’s what you need to know about this year’s Gamescom.

Gamescom 2026 officially starts on Wednesday, Aug. 26 and runs through Sunday, Aug. 30. The event itself is held at the Koelnmesse in Cologne and draws a huge crowd. Organizers say that 357,000 visitors from 128 countries attended last year’s Gamescom.

This year’s Gamescom will feature the following featured exhibitors:

• 4Divinity
• Astrogon
• Asus
• Bandai Namco
• Bohemia Interactive
• Capcom
• Crytek
• Electronic Arts
• Embark Studios
• Everstone Studio
• Focus Entertainment
• Funcom
• Gryphline
• Hoyoverse
• Konami
• Krafton
• Level Infinite
• NetEase Games
• Nintendo
• Paradox Interactive
• Remedy
• Samsung
• Sega
• Team 17
• Tencent Games
• Ubisoft
• Xbox

This year’s Gamescom Opening Night Live will stream on Tuesday, Aug. 25, starting at 2 p.m. EDT/11 a.m. PDT. Gamescom ONL can be watched on YouTube and Twitch, via the following channels:

Some of the games confirmed to appear during Gamescom Opening Night Live include Final Fantasy 7 Revelation, Game of Thrones: War for Westeros, Gears of War: E-Day, Metro 2039, Monster Hunter Outlanders, Silent: Hill Downfall, The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past, Valor Mortis, and Warlock: Dungeons & Dragons.

Gamescom Opening Night Live is expected to run two hours.

Photo: Fabian Sommer/picture alliance via Getty Images

Amid a tough year for the Xbox brand, Microsoft is going all in on Gamescom 2026. At this year’s event, Xbox will feature games like Sega and Creative Assembly’s Alien Isolation 2, Playground Games’ Fable, and RGG Studio’s Stranger Than Heaven, plus Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, Gears of War: E-Day, Minecraft Dungeons 2, Metro 2039, The Blood of Dawnwalker, Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, and Valor Mortis. There’s even a rumor that we might get a new Ori game at Gamescom.

Xbox will be streaming its own broadcasts from the Gamescom show floor, with two days of programming planned for Wednesday and Thursday. You can watch them below.