gamescom 2025: Shopmacher improves digital wayfinding, creator access and community feeling

Find better, trade fairly, celebrate stress-free: the gaming event gamescom kept optimizing its digital platform in 2025 too. For the fourth year in a row, the e-commerce agency Shopmacher is responsible for it. With an interactive hall map, an update to the digital adventure game epix and a completely reworked signing area tool, Shopmacher improves the community feeling and user comfort.

Shopmacher has looked after the digital backbone of gamescom since 2021. In 2025, too, these digital experts with gaming DNA developed new features to further improve the experience on the digital platform, as well as the visit to the event itself.

One new feature is the interactive hall map, which becomes a smart real-time guide: the new Onsite Locator noticeably makes it easier for visitors to find their way around the complex grounds, even during heavy crowds. The application shows which hall holds which exhibitors, games or events, and lets you save individual favorites. Your own location can also be shown on the website, helping you orient yourself in the space.

Combined with QR codes on the on-site signage, this creates a seamless digital guidance system with clear orientation: anyone who scans the QR codes on the signs goes straight to the matching map view on gamescom.global and gets an overview of all exhibitors and events in that hall. This way, gamers can quickly see which highlights await them in each hall.

Another big plus for the Onsite Locator is the newly created integration of the gamescom indie area. Anyone who sets up a complete and well-maintained profile including a key visual and product page is unlocked for listing on the gamescom Steam event, one of the largest distribution platforms for PC games worldwide, and thus benefits from high visibility.

The digital community campaign gamescom epix, which already thrilled players in previous years with quests and trading cards, gets a significant upgrade too: for the first time, actively trading cards is possible, via a matching system that lets users specifically pick the cards they want to trade. Only duplicate cards can be traded, so you can complete your own collection. Technically, the system is based on rule-based trading logic that works intuitively, securely and is optimized for mobile.

In addition, a newly developed dashboard shows the day's quests, friend requests and rewards at a glance. Among other things, day tickets, discount codes, digital goodies and sponsored prizes from partners are up for grabs here.

Together with the software provider Linistry, Shopmacher completely reworked the digital queuing tool for the autograph sessions. The focus: maximum transparency, usability and a significantly improved user experience, especially for sought-after creator signings.

At the heart of it is avoiding moments of frustration: anyone who does not get a slot now receives clear feedback pointing to the next booking window, complemented by a countdown timer and a forecast of when further slots will be released. This way, visitors always know which options are still open. The booking process itself was also optimized: the available time windows for creator appearances are opened in hourly slot waves, each two hours in advance. This spreads the crowd more evenly, avoids technical overload and increases the chances of getting a spot.

The system is complemented by so-called "fast lanes" for exhibitors: through a simplified booking system, users can specifically book slots to test their favorite games. Both systems serve the same goal: less crowding, more experience.

gamescom 2025 in Cologne.

Under the hood of the gamescom.global platform, things were improved as well:

CMS upgrade: with the switch from Hygraph Classic to Studio, the editor experience was comprehensively improved. The platform consistently takes advantage of all the new features.
Simple templates: new, heavily simplified templates for partner and product pages make content creation easier, even for less experienced users.
Steam import: a new import tool transfers metadata directly from Steam into the CMS. Only gaps need to be filled in, which saves time and improves data quality.
Optimized navigation: across all lists, an incremental search combined with favorites filters allows faster orientation.
Accessibility: the platform was reworked semantically to structurally improve accessibility.
Snippets & animations: small features like snippets for finding events or an animated bookmark function increase visibility and the fun factor.

"With every innovation, we make the biggest games event in the world a little bit better, for everyone who's there," says Ludvigsen-Diekmann. "Our ambition is to deliver the digital backbone of the event, and at the same time make the experience noticeably better for users."