Equipment Stolen From Gamescom Booths, and the Games Industry Steps In
Laptops and display equipment were stolen from exhibitor booths in the business hall at Gamescom 2026 in Cologne, Germany, hitting at least two developers and putting unreleased game builds at risk of leaking.
Indie developer Ryan Laley, who travelled from Essex, England, to showcase his upcoming horror game Mimic, reported that his equipment was stolen from his booth. He called the theft "a huge blow financially and mentally" (GameSpot). Laley is a solo developer, and the loss of his hardware meant he had no way to demo his game to attendees.
CD Projekt Red — the studio behind Cyberpunk 2077 — responded on X, offering to help. "No choom should have to start from zero," the studio's CyberpunkGame account wrote, using a term of friendship from the game's setting, and adding that it would "check the Arasaka hardware archives" — a nod to a fictional corporation in the same universe — to see what it could send (GameSpot).
Marketing consultant Indie Game Joe went further, donating funds to help Laley replace the lost equipment. Joe also urged players to wishlist Mimic on Steam, describing it as a horror social deduction game — a genre where players work together while hidden roles create suspicion. Mimic features a shape-shifting terror that hides among the crew, a killer android that hunts everyone on board, and proximity voice chat with a lie-to-survive mechanic (GameSpot). Laley thanked CD Projekt Red and others for their support.
The thefts were not limited to one booth. iam8bit, a games merchandise and publishing company, posted that two of its laptops were stolen from its Gamescom booth overnight despite the presence of security at the venue. The company discovered the theft upon arriving at its station in the business area hall (GameSpot).
The stolen laptops were being used to demo upcoming titles to media and content creators during the show. They contained early builds of Petal Runner, developed by Nano Park Studios, and Escape Academy 2, developed by Coin Crew Games — both part of the iam8bit Presents lineup. iam8bit stated the theft had potentially put those unfinished builds at risk of being leaked (GameSpot). The company asked anyone with information about the stolen laptops to reach out.
Gamescom is one of the largest gaming events in the world, and the business hall — where publishers, developers, and media conduct meetings and demos behind closed doors — sits apart from the public show floor. That a theft spree reached the business area, where access is more restricted, has drawn attention across the industry.
For developers like Laley, the cost of exhibiting at Gamescom is already significant: travel, accommodation, and booth fees for a chance to put a game in front of press and publishers. Losing the hardware that runs the demo on top of that is a setback that, without the community's response, could have ended the trip entirely.
