It costs $260,000 to present a 60-second trailer at Gamescom

[John Elden Ring]

If you're a studio looking to showcase your game during Geoff Keighley's Gamescom Opening Night Live ceremony, then you'd better be prepared to pay for the privilege.

Per Gamescom's official booking form, prices for a spot during the pre-show start at €57,500, which works out at around $62,500. That'll get you a 30-second trailer. As a reminder, that's for the pre-show, not the main event.

For 60 seconds, you'll have to pay €82,500 (about $90,000), with prices rising to €107,500 (about $117,000) and €132,500 (around $144,000) for 90-second and 120-second spots respectively. The pre-show airs before the livestream for the main show, and it's not shown to Gamescom's in-person audience.

Bookings for the main show are sold out now, but a quick search through the trusty internet archive reveals just how much a studio will have paid for their game to be shown during Opening Night Live, and the costs are pretty eye-watering.

A mere 30-second spot costs a staggering €115,000, with prices rising to €165,000, €215,000, and €265,000 for 60-second, 90-second, and 120-second spots in that order.

If you think that sounds expensive, then you're not wrong; prices have risen significantly for showcase hopefuls since 2022. According to PC Gamer, a one-minute trailer during 2022's Gamescom Opening Night Live would have cost €125,000, which is €40,000 less than this year's price.

A 90-second spot would have set a studio back €165,000 in 2022, as compared to the €215,000 the same studio would pay today.

Source

 

[RE4-Station]

I wonder how much it was 15 years ago?

 

[Plextorage]

That's cheap compared to Superbowl. LOL

 

[rofif]

what a waste of money when you can just post a trailer on yt and not even notify anyone

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

Does every developer pay it or only big publishers?

 

[arvfab]

And people wonder why these kind of events/shows become less and less relevant

 

[ethomaz]

Very cheap.
Just show how "popular" these events become.

Imagine how much it was at E3 two decades ago...

 

[On Demand]

what a waste of money when you can just post a trailer on yt and not even notify anyone

All eyes and excitement is not on a uploaded YouTube trailer.

Curated shows still have merit in terms of marketing and Zeitgeist and hype of games.

 

[Yurinka]

I'd say the price is ok considering the huge viewship that the Doritos events achieve.

Does every developer pay it or only big publishers?

At least in the case of the Doritos Game Awards and the Summer Doritos Fest (I assume is the same for the GC Doritos Night Live), the organization agrees with the company who runs the marketing of some games (sometimes it's the publisher, sometimes the dev studio, sometimes big games and sometimes small indies) to include a few certain games they consider very important/attractive/with high potential free of charge.

Then as filler they include the rest of the games being paid by whoever runs the marketing of the game (normally a wealthy publisher or platform holder who supports the game).

There is a limited amount of slots, so some games wnat to be included by paying but can't be included.