The initial reaction of the German event to the thefts was extremely inhumane, but they have toned it down slightly.
Let’s see how Gamescom responds this time to the fact that several participants found that their exhibited games and the necessary hardware had disappeared overnight at this year’s event. This left the booths useless, as the developers were not prepared for this. Robust security is expected at this level, given that many major companies were in attendance.
— gamescom (@gamescom) September 4, 2026
“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 initial response was insensitive and failed to show empathy to those affected. We are sorry. A theft like this is far more than a material loss. It can ruin someone’s entire Gamescom experience and destroy work that took months or years to create — work that, for a small studio, can represent everything. To everyone affected, we understand what this has cost you. We should have made that clear from the beginning. We have already begun talking with those affected — about the theft, its consequences, and, above all, to listen.
We have also been moved by the way this industry has responded. Within hours, people offered unconditional help without being asked. This speaks volumes about this community, and we are grateful. However, this does not relieve us, as the organizers, of our responsibility to work with our exhibitors and partners to create the best possible environment for everyone. We are therefore committed to jointly reviewing and improving security further. Here is what we are doing: Alongside our regular post-event review and evaluation of exhibitor feedback, we will conduct a dedicated review of security for indie exhibitors. In the coming weeks, we will invite organizers of shared indie booths to a roundtable so 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 be investigated, and appropriate action be taken. You can reach us at [email protected]. Gamescom is made by the industry, for the industry. It thrives on the passion of the people who build it, including the many small studios that matter enormously to us. We are committed to 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,” wrote Gamescom.
Several developers reported thefts in both the business and indie areas of Gamescom. We’ve written about this issue before. This needs to change next year, or the event’s reputation could suffer irreparable damage.
Source: Gamesindustry
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