Nintendo has confirmed it won’t attend Gamescom 2024

Bad news for fans and attendees of Gamescom: Nintendo has just confirmed that they won’t be part of this year’s event.

As reported by VGC, the company issued a statement to German publication Games Wirtschaft in which an official spokesperson revealed that they would not assist to Gamescom 2024, which is set to take place in Cologne, Germany from August 21-25. This is “after careful consideration”, without sharing any more details about the decision. You can find the full message below:

“Gamescom is a central event for Nintendo in the event calendar. However, this year, after careful consideration, we have decided against participating in Cologne. Players can try out the games for Nintendo Switch instead as part of other Germany-wide events.”

This same message has been given to other publications, all with the exact same wording and meaning and no other details. Nintendo has been a constant part of Gamescom in previous iterations of the event, which makes the decision quite the surprise for many fans: it’s not unusual that they would take the opportunity to show off some of the games and updates they’ve planned for the coming year.

Last year, however, reports that Nintendo showed off its next console to developers behind closed doors at Gamescom 2023 started to appear online. The company has since denied these reports, but the fact remains that they’re actively working on a successor to the Nintendo Switch. Now it’s just a question of when they choose to reveal it to the world.