A few days ago, the French publisher Ubisoft confirmed its participation in this year's Gamescom. Bandai Namco has now officially announced its return to this year's game fair in Cologne.

After the trade fair was a little smaller than usual in recent years due to the corona pandemic and at times could only take place digitally, we were promised in March that larger exhibitors would be present again this year. In fact, Nintendo and Ubisoft have already confirmed their presence at this year's show.

Bandai Namco, on the other hand, was already there last year. With Park Beyond , The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me and One Piece Odyssey, the publisher's line-up was one of the highlights of Gamescom 2022.

Exactly which games will be exhibited is not yet known. However, Gamescom writes on Twitter: "[Bandai Namco] told us that we can expect the biggest line-up in years and they might even have a surprise or two planned for us" .

Did somebody say: hype?

Bandai Namco Europe, winner of the "Best gamescom booth 2022" awards will return to Cologne for #gamescom2023 .

They already told us that we can expect their biggest line-up in years and even might have an extra surprise or two for you in stock. pic.twitter.com/WwDEkr8gN9

— gamescom (@gamescom) June 1, 2023

What can we expect?

Looking at the publisher's upcoming games, it quickly becomes clear that they mean business. On the one hand , Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon will already be available during the trade fair (on August 25, 2023 ), on the other hand, Synduality , a second game with mechs, awaits us. Tekken 8 could also have its own stand. As is the Baten Kaitos I & II HD Remaster coming to the Nintendo Switch.

Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections and Sword Art Online Last Recollection are still up for anime adaptations this year. The latter will be released on October 6, 2023 and only yesterday received a gameplay trailer (see below). And even though the game Dragon Ball: The Breakers, which is reminiscent of Dead by Daylight , has been available since October last year, it could also be promoted again. Possibly as part of a DLC.

SAO Gameplay Trailer:

As for the surprises, here we could already see Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 4 announced in the spring. But the next offshoot of the horror series The Dark Pictures Anthology: Directive 8020 also seems realistic. This is how the start of season 2 should come in a futuristic setting.

Perhaps surprises also mean titles that have not yet been announced. We could find out details as early as next week in the usual E3 period (June 8 to June 12) or at the latest at Gamescom's Opening Night Live on August 22, 2023.

Gamescom 2023 at a glance

Some major publishers such as Microsoft, Sony PlayStation, Activision Blizzard or Electronic Arts have so far neither accepted nor canceled. So we can be excited to see who will present their latest works to us at Gamescom 2023 this year. At this point in time, the following exhibitors have confirmed:

• Ubisoft
• Nintendo
• Bandai Namco
• Level Infinite / Tencent Games
• Aerosoft
• Assemble Entertainment
• Giant's software
• Hoyoverse

Gamescom will take place this year from August 23, 2023 to August 27, 2023 . Ticket sales have already started. Here you can purchase them online and secure your ticket for Gamescom.