In a surprise announcement, gaming industry giant Nintendo has confirmed that they won't be a part of Gamescom 2022.
In this photo provided by Nintendo of America, Mario and Luigi direct children ride through the McDonald's drive-thru in Mario Kart Ride On vehicles on July 12, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. Nintendo is celebrating the recently released Mario Kart 8 game for the Wii U console by partnering with McDonald's nationwide to include themed toys in Happy Meals.
The company said that they won't be making an appearance or any announcements, as reported by GameRant. Gamescom is scheduled for August this year. However, they did assure fans that they will have some sort of presence at other events happening within the region where Gamescom is held (Europe), including the Stuttgart Children and Youth Festival and the SWR Summer Festival, both in Germany.
The original news comes from German site GamesWirtschaft. In there, Nintendo replied to a question when asked about their plans for this year's Gamescom. While they didn't give any concrete reason for their absence, though some fans expressed hope that they're going to hold a new Nintendo Direct presentation by themselves.
TheGamer also reports that aside from the SWR Summer Festival and the Stuttgart Children and Youth Festival, Nintendo also plans appearances at the Main Matsuri Japan Festival (Frankfurt), the DoKomi event in Dusseldorf, and Mannheim's AnimagiC. Nintendo further says that they have "more stops and activities planned" beyond the aforementioned events.
Gamescom 2022 will likely be the first video game convention this year to go back to a fully physical live event - more so in the wake of the digital and physical cancelation of E3 2022. But according to co-organizer Felix Falk, they're not going to forget those who can't make it to the event in person (it will be held in Cologne) as they're still going to maintain an online presence.
"We are very confident that, together with some measures we already have in place, we can get a really nice Gamescom atmosphere and feeling back," says Falk as per the original TheGamer report.
Gamescom 2022 is scheduled from August 24th to 29th.
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Since Nintendo won't be in this year's Gamescom, what else can fans look forward to?
Well, the other big names that fans can expect to present do have some bangers up their sleeve - both announced and unannounced. According to a report by TechRadar, the Xbox/Bethesda showcase could be among the biggest conferences there, though there's an indication that Microsoft will be the only attendee out of the Big 3 (with Nintendo confirming it's not coming, and Sony/PlayStation nowhere to be found).
The refurbished Xbox Series X consoles are still available at Microsoft Store.
As for what Xbox might showcase for this year's event, that one is still up in the air. It's worth noting that Team Green has experienced a setback with Starfield being delayed to next year (it was supposed to be one of their biggest exclusives for 2022). Maybe they'll show more of the game there, alongside other projects by their first-party studios - namely Bethesda.
The other big names that attendees could expect include Bandai Namco, Activision Blizzard, EA, Ubisoft, SEGA, and Konami, to name a few. It's worth noting, however, that Gamescom hasn't published a list of confirmed attendees and exhibitors for the event - something that other conventions like E3 do before the event proper starts.
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Story posted on GameNGuide
Written by RJ Pierce