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Like a majority of in-person events, Gamescom was cancelled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, or rather held entirely online—however you want to slice it. Now event organizers say it will be held as a “hybrid event” this August, offering up its massive halls to press, industry and even private visitors.

Unlike last year’s all-digital presentation, event organizers say this year will include an entertainment area “especially designed for a reduced amount of on-site visitors, which focuses on the testing of new games live on-site including a digital queue management system.”

Organizers say the event will only be able to let a reduced number of visitors into the halls. How many, we can’t be sure, but it’s bound to be a starkly limited number in comparison to the 370,000 visitors that descended upon the venue in 2019. Gamescom 2021 is set to take place from August 25th – 29th in Cologne, Germany.

From a journalistic perspective, Gamescom has historically been somewhat of a mixed bag. It’s only a few weeks after E3 is typically held, so many of gaming’s most profound announcements are typically already out of the bag.

Still, the event plays an instrumental part in giving Europe-based gamers a taste of what’s to come. It’s also the go-to spot for Europe-based studios, artists, and other industry professionals to talk shop, and use the event in-lieu of flying all the way to Los Angeles for E3; that event is currently slated to be all-digital this June, possibly making Gamescom 2021 this year’s most important in-vivo venue for all things games.

We’re hoping to have feet on the ground at Gamescom 2021 to bring you all the latest in VR/AR gaming. Although Sony hasn’t said as much, the return of in-person events like Gamescom would be a stellar time to reveal the upcoming next-gen VR headset for PS5. Anyway, we can’t wait to get our hands on the newly unveiled motion controllers.