Over 320,000 people attended Gamescom 2023.
23.08.2023 - 10:17 / techradar.com / Todd Howard / Geoff Keighley / Inon Zur / Bill Clinton
A video games showcase or event hosted by Geoff Keighley has been subject to stage invaders once again — for the second time in less than a year.
During last night's Gamescom Opening Night Live 2023 — the 'grand opening' of the wider event — two people came onto the stage and interrupted Geoff Keighley mid-flow. The stage invader who got closest to Keighley seemed to say «Bill Clinton wants to play GTA 6» before mentioning GTA 6 several times again along with his stage-invading companion. This seems to be in reference to the previous stage invasion that occurred at last year's Game Awards, where a prankster sidled up with the Elden Ring team and spoke nonsense about Bill Clinton, among other things.
The interruption came just after Starfield composer Inon Zur had done a live performance from the soundtrack on the piano, and just before the director of Bethesda Game Studios, Todd Howard, joined Keighley on stage. You can see it play out below from the official YouTube video of the show, starting just before the disruption occurs.
Security personnel deployed among the crowd moved quickly to remove the invaders, who didn't receive too much airtime in the end. Keighley avoided any confrontation but said: “That’s just so disappointing. This is such a special night for so many developers, it’s really disappointing to see someone act that way.”
However, as this isn't the first time that someone has made it onto the stage at one of Keighley's events, eyebrows might be raised by onlookers and, importantly, those folks who agree to go on stage at such events.
As for who the invaders actually were, Dexerto has reported that it may have been the same person who interrupted a German football show on TV to try and talk about GTA — but this is unconfirmed.
A host of updates and reveals were part of Opening Night Live, including action-packed reveals including a Little Nightmares 3 trailer , a look at Crimson Desert , and a gory Killing Floor 3 reveal .
Over 320,000 people attended Gamescom 2023.
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Gamescom's Opening Night Live event was briefly derailed when a man invaded the stage, interrupting host and producer Geoff Keighley. The man appeared to repeat the phrase “Bill Clinton wants to play GTA 6" several times before being led away by security.
STALKER 2 had a big presence at Gamescom 2023 despite being absent from the inaugural Opening Night Live show hosted by Geoff Keighley. A demo is playable on the show floor, allowing GSC Game World to gather feedback directly from fans, and the developers have also shared a new trailer that confirms yet another delay into Q1 2024 (as we had noticed from the updated fact sheet).
GTA 6 is likely on its way, though we’re still waiting for an initial announcement from Rockstar. With the GTA 6 release date still pending, one Grand Theft Auto player storms the stage of Gamescom 2023, interrupting host Geoff Keighley to shout questions about the next Rockstar sandbox game and sequel to GTA 5. This appears to be the same person who has previously invaded live television shows to ask about GTA 6 and, most recently, a return to Vice City.
Another Gamescom Opening Night Live has gone off with only one hitch, preceding a week of on-site demos from developers in Cologne, Germany. Hosted by Geoff Keighley, the ONL show was a two hour event largely focused on gameplay and update trailers for already-announced or released games.
By Andrew Webster, an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories.
Tuesday’s big Gamescom kick-off show was briefly disrupted by a stage invader.
For the second time in under a year, a Geoff Keighley videogame show has been interrupted by a stage crasher.
Tonight's Gamescom Opening Night Live was briefly paused while security dealt with a stage invasion.
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It’s that time of year again. The annual Gamescom trade fair opens its doors today, but you don’t have to be in Germany to participate in the reveals and updates. All of the good stuff is being streamed live, beginning with the opening night event, hosted by Game Awards guru and former Spike TV personality Geoff Keighley. For those of us far from Europe, the event starts streaming at 2PM ET. Watch it right here.