On Friday, August 28, indie developer Ryan Laley posted a video on X to say his Gamescom 2026 attendance was being reduce quick after discovering that each one his crew’s laptops had been stolen from its sales space throughout an alleged in a single day theft. Within the put up, the visibly distraught dev referred to as the incident “an enormous blow financially and mentally,” and confirmed that police experiences had been filed.
Laley’s put up earned an outpouring of assist on the platform from avid gamers and fellow builders—together with Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Crimson, which provided to “verify the Arasaka {hardware} archives and see if we will ship a number of issues your approach.” Laley, nevertheless, was simply one among a lot of builders and publishers that reported related thefts over the weekend, producing concern concerning the efficacy of Gamescom safety practices.
My #gamescom reduce quick. Our tools was stolen final night time from the sales space.Police experiences have been filed.Confused to explain the sensation. Simply defeated. Gonna do my greatest with what’s left of the week. However an enormous blow financially and mentally pic.twitter.com/dKpp3Of6dfAugust 28, 2026
Simply hours after Laley reported the theft of his crew’s laptops, fellow indie developer Tessera Studios made a similar post, saying that they had arrived at their Gamescom booth two days prior to find that their storage had been forced open and robbed of controllers, a Steam Deck, and two laptops which “contained not only our Gamescom demo, but also personal, company, and critical information.”
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“The damage that this caused to us was pretty huge,” Tessera Studios co-founder Marcos Neila said in an uploaded video. “But as far as we know, there [is no] insurance from Gamescom, so we don’t really know if we are going to get something in return.”
Publisher iam8bit said they suffered another theft during the event, claiming that on Friday its staff “arrived to our station in the business area hall to discover that our two laptops had been stolen overnight, despite the presence of Koelnmesse security.”
In addition to losing the stolen equipment, iam8bit said the theft could result in the leak of unfinished builds for Petal Runner and Escape Academy 2—the games it was presenting during the show.
“This is hugely disappointing for us and our development teams at Nano Park Studios and Coin Crew Games who worked tirelessly to prepare for this show,” iam8bit said.
While sharing Laley’s post on Friday, games marketing and PR firm Ukiyo Studios said on X that, of the more than 15 events the company attends each year, “Gamescom is the ONLY event we have a dedicated storage room” to protect its equipment after a PC was stolen from its booth in 2024.
“We’ve had something stolen at Gamescom each year. Always chalked it up as ‘the cost of doing a show in Germany,'” Ukiyo Studios said in a follow-up post. “With all these others now reporting their thefts, hopefully Gamescom does a better job with security, but not really holding my breath.”
The next day, Ukiyo Studios posted an update to say that “an Xbox controller, drinks, and food” had been stolen from their booth during the intervening hours.
Other attendees and developers have shared their own frustrations with Gamescom security. Dead by Daylight senior community director Eric Pope called the event’s security “an absolute joke,” claiming that a security guard “just walked away” after being asked about after-hours booth security.
“Security at this year’s Gamescom was a farce,” Insider Gaming senior editor Grant Taylor-Hill said. “Several times, I saw kids strolling into the business areas unchecked, waltzing past sensitive meetings and content without being pulled up. They obviously knew they shouldn’t have been there.”
We are aware of stolen hardware and take these reports very seriously and understand the frustration of affected exhibitors. Since many requests reached us, we would like to inform about general security regulations at the event:Uniformed guards provide general security across…August 29, 2026
Gamescom acknowledged the reported thefts in a press release shared by way of its official X account.
“We’re conscious of stolen {hardware} and take these experiences very critically and perceive the frustration of affected exhibitors,” Gamescom mentioned.
In keeping with Gamescom, “uniformed guards present basic safety throughout the venue,” whereas “particular person stand safety could be booked individually.” Exhibitors, it mentioned, “are suggested to insure tools towards theft,” which it says is famous in occasion phrases and situations.
“All circumstances have been reported to us and to the police, and investigations are already underway. We additionally need to make sure that the reported circumstances are particular person circumstances, which we’re very sorry to learn,” Gamescom mentioned, “as a result of safety has one of many highest priorities to us as an occasion and to see that indie builders are affected makes us very unhappy.
“At an occasion of this measurement, nevertheless,” the occasion organizers continued, “there’ll at all times be people making an attempt to benefit from the state of affairs. Our safety measures are designed to attenuate such dangers as successfully as potential.”
