Gamescom 2025 kicked off in Cologne with its highly anticipated Opening Night Live, setting the tone for one of the year’s biggest gaming showcases. Hosted by Geoff Keighley, the livestream captured global attention with a mix of gameplay reveals, exclusive trailers, and high-energy presentations. Fueled by stronger co-streaming activity than last year, the broadcast reached a new milestone, surpassing 2 million peak live viewers for the first time.
The evening’s most talked-about moment was the world premiere of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. Set in 2035, the game introduces a darker campaign narrative with fresh cooperative story modes, alongside the ambitious new PvE experience known as “Endgame”. Activision confirmed that the title will launch on November 14 across all major platforms, including Game Pass and PlayStation, making it one of the holiday season’s most anticipated releases.
The Black Myth: Zhong Kui announcement served as the closing note of the event
Horror fans were treated to the chilling debut of Resident Evil: Requiem, which promised a return to the series’ psychological roots with unsettling environments and tense survival gameplay. Meanwhile, families and longtime DC fans celebrated the reveal of Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, bringing Gotham’s streets, villains, and Batmobile back in bricky form.
Closing out the show was a surprise reveal of Black Myth: Zhong Kui, a spiritual follow-up to 2024’s breakout hit Wukong. With its mythological Chinese setting and visually stunning combat, the trailer immediately lit up social media.
When it comes to viewership, this year’s Opening Night Live reached record-breaking levels. More than 1,100 channels broadcast the showcase (up from just over 700 last year), with support from leading gaming media and top influencers helping drive the average audience to 1.8 million concurrent viewers.
Peak viewership climbed past the 2 million mark toward the end of the event, coinciding with its biggest announcements. Overall, the broadcast posted major year-over-year growth, with peak viewership up 60% and the average audience surging 67%.
Engagement also surged across key demographics. Last year, four broadcast languages crossed the six-figure mark in live viewership, but in 2025, that number grew to five, with Russian joining English, Spanish, German and French.
Even with its major audience growth, Opening Night Live narrowly missed the top five gaming and tech showcases of the year, finishing sixth overall, just behind June’s edition of Sony’s State of Play.
The number-one spot is still held (and will likely remain through the end of the year) by Nintendo Direct, which unveiled key details about the then-upcoming Switch 2. That broadcast peaked at more than 6.3 million live viewers, making it one of the highest-performing events of its kind to date.
Read more: Nintendo Switch 2 reveal becomes the most-watched gaming showcase over the past five years