At a press conference ahead of next week’s Gamescom conference, Geoff Keighley shed some light on the process of selecting trailers for the Opening Night Live digital showcase, which takes place on Tuesday. Keighley is also the host of The Game Awards, and in December, Kotaku reported that it allegedly cost up to $450,000 to place a 60-second trailer at the 2025 awards ceremony. Last summer, Aftermath reported that a 60-second trailer at Opening Night Live hosted by Keighley reportedly cost €102,500 ($119,600). But in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz last August, Felix Falk, CEO of Game, the German Games Industry Association, said he was free to place a trailer on Opening Night Live. “Of course, you can place some ads on Opening Night Live, but the vast majority of the content is free,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a AAA title or an indie, as long as your content is brilliant, Geoff will decide to put you on a show and it won’t cost you a cent.” Today, in a Q&A session during the preview press conference, GamesIndustry.biz asked Keighley to clarify how much it costs to put a trailer on Opening Night Live and what constitutes an ad. It has been confirmed that Gears of War E-Day will be part of next week’s Opening Night Live | Image Credit: The Coalition/Xbox Game Studios He said Opening Night Live featured both editorial placements and paid placements. “Just like companies buy a booth at Gamescom and purchase space, they will also secure space within the show,” he said. “I think one of the things that’s important to all of us is that there are games that are selected for their editorial value in the program. There are also a lot of indie games that we take on. You’ll see a lot of small teams, games created by three, four people, that are selected to be within ONL, because we believe in those titles, we believe in those teams and we want to support them.” He added that these shows are “marketing events, just like Gamescom is a marketing event, so it can all be considered video game marketing in many ways, but there are definitely games that we select for editorial consideration at all the shows.” GamesIndustry.biz asked for clarification on whether only the games Keighley selects enter Opening Night Live for free, while everyone else has to pay. He responded that it is “a group decision.” “And I would also say that the games that are in there, especially ONL, are all partners with Gamescom in some way. So the companies we’re working with are already at Gamescom in some way as exhibitors or something, and this is maybe a digital extension of what they’re doing with their booths.” Metro 2039 is also part of Opening Night Live | Image credit: 4A Games/Deep Silver Falk, who also participated in the pre-briefing, added that “the vast majority of everything we do on the digital side is not paid or advertorial or advertising” but is “free for our partners.” He said Gamescom viewed the digital shows as a “hybrid approach” to expand the event’s reach around the world, “not just to address the 350,000-plus people on site.” “It is also not economically important for us to make money first with digital shows, but rather to reach out to our partners who are at Gamescom,” he said. Keighley also gave some clarification on how games are selected to be editorial placements. “Part of the problem with editorial selection is really the scale of the news or announcement,” he said. “Everyone wants to tune in to surprise us with something new and exciting. Companies and partners often get the chance to have editorial positions with the level of news that people bring to the show.” But he noted that the show also features “games that will be released a few weeks later; that’s more advertising for a game that exists.” Keighley confirmed that Gears of War E-Day will be part of Opening Night Live, along with Final Fantasy 7: Revelation, Ananta, Metro 2039 and more details about the new expansion for The Witcher 3. Tim Endres, Gamescom director at Koelnmesse, also noted during the pre-briefing that GDQ (Games Done Quick) will be at Gamescom for the first time this year, raising money for the Gaming for Democracy initiative. “With this, we are once again using Gamescom as a platform for a good cause, and that is really important to us,” he said. Gamescom 2026 will be the largest in history, with almost 50 pavilions from 40 countries and more than 1,600 exhibitors.
