Gamescom 2024

It’s harder to sum up Gamescom this year since I didn’t have much time to explore the consumer area in depth, but a few things stood out:

1. PlayStation, Nintendo, and Steam skipped both the consumer and trade sections, while Xbox doubled down on both fronts. Notably, Netflix also significantly reduced their presence.

2. Anime Vibes are strong as usual, especially across consumer goods and cosplay.

3. Character Design. Sexualization is steadily decreasing — objectification seems to be a thing of the past, at least for now.

4. Streaming. Demand for content remains high. This was evident in both the gamer streamer influencers and the consumer crowd, where constant streaming was the norm.

In the web3 space:

1. Abstraction. Finally, there’s broad consensus — less talk about which chain is superior and more focus on delivering real products to players.

2. It’s surprising how many previously funded web3 startups are still figuring out their meta concepts.

3. User Acquisition. As the small scale of the native web3 market becomes more apparent, traditional user acquisition strategies are making a comeback, while the old guerrilla marketing tactics are losing steam.

4. Fewer people are relying on whale NFT Speculators, which is a good sign. It’s time to think mass market.

Overall the industry seems to be in a slower phase right now. Is a bigger shift on the horizon? There is only one way to figure it out — let's wait and see.