The Modern Publisher Volume #2 September 2026
This month’s edition of The Modern Publisher dives into our recent conference experiences and the importance of connection. Enjoy industry takeaways from gamescom from Ben, more details about our new Lisbon office from Cisco, an exclusive interview with the Naavik Gaming Podcast, and tips on maintaining the connections you made at an event once you’re back home.
On The Ground in Cologne
This might sound odd, but gamescom 2026 was all about GROWTH from unexpected and brand new places. You probably didn’t expect for me to say that in what is often a depressing and chaotic environment the last three years. Yet here we are and I’m excited about what it means.
GAMESCOM DEV
Let’s start first with Devcom which has now become Gamescom Dev. The integration into gamescom of this industry-focused event speaks to the growth and importance of these types of networking and connection places. It provides unique opportunities to more intimately connect with key industry thought leaders and learn from what others are building in the space. Many of my fellow industry folks are there anyways and this is yet another excuse to come early and get out even earlier before the masses show up. Speaking of, I heard it was 365,000 people!
It was fascinating for me to learn more about what Xsolla, CrazyGames, and others are doing in the panel I moderated around direct to consumer. It’s a new lane that many are building and creating pathways in to ensure games can more consistently communicate directly with the audiences they work so hard to attain. I expect this to continue to be a huge topic as cutting through the noise becomes even more difficult the next few years based on current platform challenges in serving the growing volume of context.
REGIONAL BOOTHS
The second place worth speaking about is the growth and expansion of country and regional presence. We were in Hall 4.1 at the Portugal booth, which we had announced an expansion into ahead of gamescom. I noticed an uptick in presence, spend, and side events focused around regional opportunities. Whether it was tax incentives, government support, regional organization growth, or simply large indie success that drove it, it was noticeable how many countries were there and the new ones that have emerged.
Portugal had an amazing presence with room for partner meetings and some incredible games from the region. They also introduced many to Portuguese wine, poncha, and pastel de nata at their booth event, as did many other countries, like Belgium which also had a delicious Belgian beer hall social at their booth. We even had a Midwest delegation of developers, including PUBG Madison, indie studios, and support groups and services.
This speaks to something I’ve been saying since I founded Midwest Games in 2023, great games can come from anywhere…and they are!
NEW MODELS AND FRACTIONAL BUSINESSES
Finally, some of the biggest impact in what I saw growing was the new types of businesses and approaches from different folks I talked to around the event. I met folks trying to solve problems from new ways to fund and distribute risk to ways to approach direct to consumer to new tooling to many discussions on how we might approach models to bring all of these things together while reducing the complexity that naturally arises.
Specialized and fractional businesses and services seems to be emerging in a huge way on the publishing and funding end of the industry. It definitely plays into the future world I think is being created for games over the next 20-30 years where we move into models more similar to film production than traditional big box publishing.
Essentially what I think is happening is the segmenting of tasks into completely separate businesses that are able to better specialize and own an aspect of the workflow. This adds complexity to getting a deal done and more parties involved. The natural side affect is the organization of units, like ours, that will reduce that complexity with established workflows and investment into due diligence around opportunities, partnerships, incentives, and other factors that will matter in this future world. It speaks to the need to be incredible collaborators in this future world.
Overall, an incredible show, once again. The team at gamescom does it like no other. The sheer size of the event is beyond comprehension in some ways. Anyone that has run a games event knows how complex it can get. Well done to them. I look forward to the GROWTH coming in new areas and new places. I believe the future is bright as we scorch a new path into what was previously unknown territory.