Gamescom Dev head says smaller studios represent the biggest opportunity in the games market

Smaller studios are becoming the most interesting part of the market, and Gamescom Dev is shaping its programming around that reality. Managing director Frederik Hammes says the speaker survey points to a sector where lean teams can do more than ever, but still need help with the business side as much as the creative and technical side.

This year’s Gamescom Dev runs with 390 speakers and 220 sessions across 17 stages, and the event’s rebrand from Devcom to Gamescom Dev is meant to make the whole week easier to understand and navigate. The move also ties the conference more closely to Gamescom itself, with a single ticket shop and a Monday-to-Friday business-week structure that lets attendees move between the two.

Hammes says the venue at Koelnmesse’s Confex Center currently fits the show, but leaves limited room to grow. If the industry keeps trending toward smaller, more distributed teams, the event may eventually need more space and a closer physical relationship to Gamescom to serve that audience properly.

The speaker survey also shows a split on AI. Forty-seven percent of speakers see it as the most impactful development over the next three years, but only 11% think AI literacy is the key skill people need most. Leadership came out on top at 27%, which fits the mood of an industry still dealing with layoffs, restructuring, and a lot of uncertainty.