Microsoft and Bethesda confirmed to be at Gamescom 2023

Joining Nintendo in Cologne

Marco Wutz | Jul 5, 2023

Microsoft and Bethesda confirmed to be at Gamescom 2023 /

Gamescom has announced that Microsoft and Bethesda will both join the convention in Cologne, Germany, from August 23 to 27, 2023. The organizers promised to reveal more details soon, so for the moment there is no official information on what the duo will present on the showfloor.

It’s probably a safe bet that Starfield will be playable for visitors since it’s set to be released just two weeks after the convention. Likewise, Forza Motorsport could make an appearance as it’s scheduled for a release on October 10, 2023, which would mean that two of this year’s biggest Xbox Series X|S titles would be shown.

The recent Xbox Games Showcase in June 2023 already had lots of fresh announcements in store from Microsoft, so it’s very hard to guess what news the appearance in Cologne might bring.

Microsoft probably hoped to have the pending Activision Blizzard acquisition wrapped up by then, but with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) fighting in court to halt the deal this looks more and more unlikely.

Nintendo has already been confirmed to return to Cologne as well for Gamescom 2023, marking the first time the Japanese company is showing up there since 2019.

Microsoft and Nintendo were among the companies ditching an E3 appearance earlier this year, instead opting for digital showcases held by themselves.

Published Jul 5, 2023

MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg