Organisers have dubbed this year’s Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show as the “most international edition in the show’s history,” with an estimated 219,546 attendees from 113 countries descending on the event last week in Bangkok.
The four-day show was headlined by a keynote address from legendary gamemaker and Doom co-creator John Romero, who presented a panel called ‘Why We Still Make Games’, recounting the achievements, failures, and lessons learnt across his five decades in the industry. Other notable panels were hosted by members of Adhoc Studio, the makers of the breakout 2025 narrative game Dispatch, and Bloober Team CEO Piotr Babieno, who delved into the slowburn success story of his studio’s horror hit, Cronos: The New Dawn.
Out on the showfloor fans were able to enjoy 470 titles from indies and major gaming brands like Capcom, Bandai Namco Entertainment, SEGA, and Ubisoft. A number of these included hotly anticipated titles like Final Fantasy VII Revelation, Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance, Stranger Than Heaven, and Total War: Warhammer 40,000.
Debuting at this year’s event was the pop culture festival, ACE (Anima Asia Comics Content Entertainment Expo), and America’s Got Talent 2026 winner, Nene Royal, performed the event’s theme song during the opening ceremony. The Thailand Game Awards, which also ran during the show, named Capcom’s Pragmata as its Game of the Year.
“This was the most international show we’ve ever staged,” said Mathias Kuepper, managing director and regional president, APAC, Koelnmesse.
“Exhibitors from 29 countries and regions came to Bangkok to sign deals, not only to show games. That tells the global industry that Southeast Asia is no longer a market to watch. It’s a market to be in, and this is where deals get done.”
It has been confirmed by the organisers that Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show will return to Bangkok from 21 to 24 October 2027.
Tristan Ogilvie is a senior video editor at IGN based in Sydney, Australia. He has 25 years of experience covering video games, having served as Deputy Editor on Official PlayStation 2 Magazine Australia and as Editor of Official Xbox 360 Magazine Australia, before joining IGN in 2009. You can find him on Bluesky @tristanogilvie.bsky.social
