Droid Gamers is at Gamescom 2023, checking out the latest and greatest in mobile games, hardware, and technology. I’ve got a stacked meeting planner with developers, publishers, and manufacturers, and will report on everything I see right here in this article.
After each meeting (or as soon as I’m able), I’ll update this article with what I’ve seen and learned. So, I recommend bookmarking it and checking back often to ensure that you don’t miss out on anything. I’m expecting to see a lot of exciting stuff.
Bear in mind that I can’t report on everything I see, as certain games and hardware is often under embargo until closer to launch. I will endeavour to reveal as much as possible, as well as report on who I’ve spoken to.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at what Droid Gamers has been up to at Gamescom so far.
NetEase Games
Our first meeting was with the prolific games developer and publisher NetEase Games, which has had a very busy 2023 so far. In the mobile space alone, NetEase has launched Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, Ace Racer, and Dead by Daylight Mobile.
Well, the latter was a relaunch, but the changes are so extensive it still counts.
Elsewhere, NetEase has recently transitioned Naraka: Bladepoint from a premium title to free-to-play, launched it on PS5, and announced a crossover with the Nier series. A mobile adaptation is also on the way, though NetEase has nothing to announce at the moment.
Looking ahead, NetEase is working on Racing Master and Project Mugen, which is getting a full reveal on August 24. We can’t go into full details about what we discussed at this point, but bopth titles are looking very exciting indeed.
I’d like to thank NetEase for taking the time to meet with us and give us an early look at the exciting upcoming titles.
PDP
Next up we saw PDP, who only this morning announced a brand new line of peripherals under the shared name Realmz. It’s an incredibly cute line of controllers and headsets, which feature a figurine of a variety of famous video game characters inside of a see-through casing.
So far, the Realmz line-up features Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Optimus Prime, and Red Pikmin, but many more are on their way. PDP was incredibly tight-lipped about any upcoming additional characters, but categorically didn’t rule it out.
Per-orders for the current line-up go live on Friday, with a full launch in October. Sonic will arrive first, with Transformers and Pikmin arriving by the end of the year. 2024 may well see new additions to the Realmz line-up.
Huawei AppGallery
We caught up with Huawei, who had a huge stand to show off AppGallery. While Huawei seemingly wasn’t here to make announcements, the manufacturer was keen to highlight a bunch of games that are available on the service.
The collaboration kicks off today with World of Tanks Blitz. If you’re a fan, head on over to AppGallery’s stand to join in the celebrations.
SkyWalk
SkyWalk flew all the way over from its native South Korea to show off its existing and upcoming games. You may know the developer from its hit games Lost Fantasy, Heroes of Atlan, or Hello Hero. It has a wealth of games in its backlog, so check out the official site.
In terms of upcoming releases, SkyWalk talked to us about Girl Globe, an anime dress up game featuring a variety of different fashion brands. You dress up in a variety of outfits, participate in fashion shoots, and enjoy a romantic story.
Astragon
We caught up with Astragon at Gamescom, the prolific developer and publisher of many of your favourite simulator games. On mobile, you may have played Bus Simulator, Construction Simulator, and Truck Simulator.
While we can’t discuss what Astragon is working on right now (this is becoming a common theme, eh?), we can confirm that an exciting new game is on the way. Stay tuned later this year for an announcement.
LightSpeed Studios
LightSpeed Studios, the developer behind the absolutely enormous PUBG Mobile, made an appearance at Gamescom. The studio has been busy this year, launching the zombie survival shooter Undawn back in June.
Again, we have no announcements to share with you but LightSpeed is gearing up to celebrate its 15th anniversary later this year, so exciting things are on the way.
Game Hollywood
We caught up with Game Hollywood, who pretty much just wanted to say hi, and that’s just fine by us. If you haven’t heard of the studio, it specialises in mobile and browser games like League of Angels, Dark Odyssey, and Eternal Fury.
We didn’t learn about anything that’s in the pipeline at the moment, but you can bet the team is cooking up something.
Krafton
Krafton joined us for a quick meeting to learn about what it’s working on, but the team was quick to bring up its latest release, Defense Derby. If you haven’t played it, it’s a PvP tower defense game that sees you recruit heroes, place them on a grid, and defend against hordes of enemies.
We do know that Krafton has games in development for mobile, including something incredibly exciting. As ever, we can’t discuss it right now, but stay tuned on Droid Gamers for further announcements.
Goat Games
We joined Goat Games at their impressive booth as the team showed off its upcoming title, Dungeon Hunter 6. You can pre-register for it right now, with the full launch arriving on October 9 on Android. We also went hands on with it, and it’s looking like a fantastic new entry in the series.
We have a full interview coming with Goat Games over the next few days, where we’ll go into much more detail about the exciting upcoming action RPG.
HoYoverse
HoYoverse had an absolutely enormous booth at Gamescom this year, and it was absolutely swarming with fans of Honkai Star Rail, Honkai Impact, Genshin Impact, and the upcoming Zenless Zone Zero. Simply getting past the swarm to the team to make my appointment was a struggle in of itself!
That’s testament to how dominant the Chinese developer and publisher is in the mobile space right now. Every single release seems more successful than the last, and this year alone has seen the launch of Star Rail and the huge 4.0 Genshin Impact launch.
We have a full hands on with Honkai Star Rail on PS5 coming over the next few days, so stay tuned for that.
