Numerous Gamescom exhibitors have reported overnight thefts of their equipment at the Cologne, Germany, event this week.
On Friday morning, developer Ryan Laley, who was exhibiting the asymmetrical online survival horror game Mimic, posted a video on X explaining that his laptops containing the game had been stolen overnight.
“Effectively, my Gamescom‘s over early as all our laptops have been stolen,” Laley said. “Our booth got raided last night – not just mine, others as well. All our laptops have been stolen.
“As an indie solo dev, this shit’s expensive, and hard to do all by yourself,” Laley explained in tears. “And to have this happen is beyond frustrating; it’s heartbreaking. So, yeah.”
He added: “We’ve reported it to central management, and their security team, and they’ve been reporting it to police. I don’t expect it to be found or returned. They’ve left the chargers, it’s just the actual laptop itself, along with other people’s – it’s not just mine, it’s the whole area, it’s been raided.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do now, as I can’t really do my job. But we’ll post updates if I get any updates, but effectively Gamescom is over for me.”
My #gamescom cut short. Our equipment was stolen last night from the booth.Police reports have been filed.At a loss for words to describe the feeling. Just defeated. Gonna do my best with what's left of the week. But a huge blow financially and mentally pic.twitter.com/dKpp3Of6df
Later that day, publisher iam8bit – which also runs Summer Game Fest Play Days – posted a message on its own X account, stating that the laptops it was using to show its games to press and other industry attendees had also been stolen.
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