The summer gaming calendar is stacked, and Geoff Keighley is not done with you yet. Sitting squarely between Summer Game Fest and The Game Awards, Gamescom Opening Night Live 2026 is shaping up to be one of the year's bigger announcement windows, with confirmed game appearances already on the board and more almost certainly waiting in the wings.
Use code GGWP67 at checkout to redeem this offer before code expires again.
Get 67% Off GAMES+ Subscription
When the show actually starts
Mark your calendar for Tuesday, August 25. The main show begins at 2pm EDT / 11am PDT, which puts it at 7pm BST for UK viewers and 8pm CEST across most of Europe. Asia-Pacific fans are looking at early Wednesday morning: 3am JST and 4am AEST.
There is also a 30-minute pre-show before the main event kicks off, and if previous years are anything to go by, that pre-show is worth watching. Announcements have snuck in there before.
The full show is expected to run for roughly two hours, in line with the runtime Gamescom has published on its official event schedule.
Where to catch the stream
The easiest option is The Game Awards' official YouTube and Twitch channels, both of which will carry the full broadcast. No subscriptions, no paywalls, just drop in at the right time.
What's already confirmed for the show
Keighley and company are keeping most of the running order under wraps, but a handful of titles are already locked in.
Final Fantasy VII Revelation is the headline confirmed game, and it's specifically noted as a Switch 2 title. That alone should have Square Enix fans paying close attention. Beyond that, The Witcher 3's upcoming 'Songs of the Past' DLC is set to appear, and Game of Thrones: War for Westeros is also confirmed for a reveal during the show.
Neither the Witcher DLC nor War for Westeros have been confirmed for Nintendo Switch at this stage, so those reveals will be interesting to track for platform specifics.
First-party Nintendo games are almost certainly not showing up here. That's consistent with how Nintendo has handled ONL in previous years. The company will have a presence on the Gamescom show floor though, with hands-on time confirmed for titles including Modern Warfare 4, 007 First Light, Metaphor: ReFantazio, and Nintendo Switch Sports Resort on Switch 2.
The bigger picture for August
Opening Night Live lands in a genuinely busy stretch. COD Next 2026 is happening just days earlier on August 21, where Modern Warfare 4 is expected to take center stage. You can find the full COD Next 2026 start times and streaming details in our dedicated guide.
Here's the thing: August used to be a relatively quiet month for major gaming news. That's clearly no longer the case. Between ONL, COD Next, and whatever else publishers are holding back, the next two weeks are going to move fast.
The confirmed game list for ONL will almost certainly grow before August 25. Publishers tend to drip-feed announcements in the days leading up to the show, so keep an eye on official channels from Square Enix, CD Projekt Red, and others for any last-minute additions. For more release dates and start times across upcoming games, the gaming guides hub has everything you need in one place.
