Multiple Gamescom exhibitors returned to their booths on August 28 to find laptops and demo hardware gone after overnight thefts across Cologne's Koelnmesse venue, hitting indie and publisher setups alike in what looks like targeted raids on the business and indie halls. Solo dev Ryan Laley, showing asymmetrical horror game Mimic in the business area's Hall 4.1, reported all his machines—including a brand-new Alienware—stolen from a cupboard, along with others at the same spot, leaving chargers behind and ending his show early while police and event security logged the break-ins. Publisher iam8bit lost two demo laptops containing unfinished builds of Petal Runner and Escape Academy 2 despite Koelnmesse guards, and Tessera Studios had a cabinet forced open in the Indie Area (Hall 10.2) for two laptops plus a Steam Deck holding personal and company data.

Koelnmesse's response pointed to general venue security, optional paid stand guards, and insurance disclaimers in the fine print while calling the incidents isolated and regrettable, but that line has drawn sharp pushback from devs noting prior years' thefts—including blocked police reports—and questioning why sensitive builds and hardware vanished from supposedly secured zones. CD Projekt Red replied to Laley offering hardware from their "Arasaka archives" with the line "No choom should have to start from zero," while community donations covered replacements and calls to wishlist Mimic spread fast. Past complaints about vetting issues with security staff and patterns of losses at the event underscore how these hits land hardest on smaller teams already stretched thin.

The thefts exposed a clear gap between event scale—hundreds of thousands of visitors and exhibitors—and the practical security for those bringing irreplaceable kit to the floor.