Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026: every major announcement

Gamescom 2026 opened in Cologne on Tuesday evening with Opening Night Live, the two-hour showcase hosted by Geoff Keighley. The show mixed world premieres with a dense run of release dates, landing just ahead of the most crowded autumn the games industry has seen in years.

The firmest date belongs to Microsoft. Gears of War: E-Day received a story trailer and an October 6 release date, and remains an Xbox console exclusive. Capcom expanded the playable demo for Onimusha: Way of the Sword with a new location, available immediately, ahead of the full game's September 4 launch.

CD Projekt Red delivered what many viewers came for: the first real footage of Songs of the Past, the third expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which is targeting a 2027 release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. The studio has said the expansion ties directly into The Witcher 4, which it confirmed a day earlier is aiming for 2028.

PlaySide showed extended gameplay for Game of Thrones: War for Westeros, a real-time strategy game in which players command House Stark, House Lannister, House Targaryen or the Night King, each with distinct heroes and units. It is due in early 2027.

HoYoverse, the studio behind Genshin Impact, appeared twice. Nodusfall is an original co-operative action game in which teams of three or four players, cast as Weavers, coordinate against towering mythic creatures; early coverage compared its dark fantasy tone to Monster Hunter and Elden Ring. Petit Planet, revealed later in the show, is a far gentler galactic life simulation.

Ukrainian studio 4A Games appeared on stage to present a new gameplay trailer for Metro 2039, made during the war, and dated it for February 2027. Ubisoft announced Rainbow Six Tactics, a turn-based isometric take on its tactical shooter series, for next year. Paradox revealed Afterworld: Your Empire from the Ashes, a post-apocalyptic city builder, and NCSoft dated the return of its MMO Aion for October 5.

The release-date run continued: Atari's RollerCoaster Tycoon Wonderworks heads to Steam early access soon; Amplitude confirmed Humankind 2 for 2027; NetEase's free-to-play open-world RPG Ananta arrives January 15, 2027; and Valor Mortis, the Napoleonic action game from Ghostrunner studio One More Level, lands October 13. Smaller reveals included Murals, a hand-painted isometric adventure from the Battletoads team due in 2027, the Mexican-flavoured Metroidvania Mariachi Legends on April 27, 2027, and Tank Rat on January 15, 2027. Snoop Dogg joins Hitman as an Elusive Target from August 27.

Before the broadcast, Nvidia said GeForce Now will support Valve's Steam Controller and Steam Machine later this year, alongside new DLSS 4.5 options.

The scheduling logic behind all of it is Grand Theft Auto VI, which lands November 19. Most of the industry has moved out of that window, and Rockstar holds a separate GTA VI event on Thursday.

This article was updated after the show ended with the full slate of announcements.