Gamescom, the annual — and absolutely colossal — global gaming convention, took place last week in Cologne, Germany. The show, which ran from Wednesday, August 26, through Sunday, August 30, welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors — 368,000 visitors from more than 130 countries — as well as vendors, exhibitors, content creators, game developers, and media. But fanfare quickly shifted to frustration after grieving independent game developers reported hardware thefts on social media.
After controversial, hands-off public updates from organizers since the event’s kickoff, Gamescom showrunners have again addressed the issue with a new social media statement. In a newly uploaded text-packed image on X (formerly Twitter) titled “On the Theft of Indie Developers’ Hardware at gamescom,” event leaders address attendee and exhibitor criticisms, subsequent harm to industry professionals, and its latest internal efforts to remedy losses.
The message has been viewed nearly 100,000 times since its Friday morning upload.
“Over the past few days, we have received a great deal of criticism for the way we communicated about the theft of hardware belonging to several indie developers,” the message begins. “That criticism is justified.”
“Our first response did not strike the right tone, and it did not show the people affected the empathy they deserved. We are sorry.”
Gamescom continues to address the short- and long-term impacts of thefts and related stress and trauma on independent game developers.
“A theft like this is far more than a material loss. It can ruin an entire gamescom for the people it happens to, and it can destroy work that took months or years to build – work that, for a small studio, can be almost everything. To everyone affected, we understand what this has cost you, and we should have said so from the very first moment.”
“We have already begun talking with those affected – about the theft, about the consequences, and above all to listen.”
After several seemingly indifferent, near-callous responses from staff, fans of the expo are left feeling sour, shorthanded, and unsympathetic.
“Just refund the stolen amount,” starts one well-liked reply. “It was your unqualified employees who stole the stuff!”
“These people are just unbelievable,” sound designer and foley artist F. Can Erdogan replied. Erdogan then references creator @IndieGameJoe‘s willingness “to replace the stolen equipment for one of the affected devs.”
The audio designer continues: “You’re a huge organization with tons of resources, yet you can’t even say, ‘We’ll compensate for the losses we caused.'”
Read the full statement from gamescom:
Over the past few days, we have received a great deal of criticism for the way we communicated about the theft of hardware belonging to several indie developers. That criticism is justified. Our first response did not strike the right tone, and it did not show the people affected the empathy they deserved. We are sorry.
A theft like this is far more than a material loss. It can ruin an entire gamescom for the people it happens to, and it can destroy work that took months or years to build – work that, for a small studio, can be almost everything. To everyone affected, we understand what this has cost you, and we should have said so from the very first moment.
We have already begun talking with those affected – about the theft, about the consequences, and above all to listen.
We have also been moved by how this industry responded. Within hours, people offered help – unconditionally, and without being asked. That says a great deal about this community, and we are grateful for it. What it does not do is relieve us, as the organizers, of our responsibility to work together with exhibitors and partners to create the best possible environment for everyone. We are therefore committed to jointly reviewing and further improving security.
Here is what we are doing: Alongside our regular post-event review and our evaluation of exhibitor feedback, we will carry out a dedicated review of security for indie exhibitors. In the coming weeks, we will invite organizers of shared indie booths to a roundtable, so that we can develop concrete measures together.
We also urge every exhibitor who has experienced an incident to report it – to us and to the police – even if it happened some time ago. Only then can incidents be documented, possible connections between them investigated, and appropriate action taken. You can reach us at sales@gamescom.de
gamescom is made by the industry, for the industry. It lives on the passion of the people who build it, and that includes the many small studios who matter to us enormously. Our commitment has always been to keep making gamescom better – together with the community, not just when things go well. That is exactly what we will do here. Thank you to everyone who is helping us.
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