German gaming festival Gamescom has announced a wide range of esports tournaments that will be featured at this year’s Gamescom LAN.
Taking place from March 20th to 22nd in Cologne, Germany, the event features 14 tournaments across a variety of genres.
Revealed on March 6th, the tournaments are split into two tiers, with tier 1 tournaments featuring a €46,750 (~£40,574) prize pool and tier 2 competitions containing €3,500 (~£3,037) in prize money across eight competitions.
A VALORANT tournament hosted by Project V headlines the tier 1 tournaments alongside a Counter-Strike 2 event operated by Berlin International Gaming (BIG). Other tournaments feature League of Legends, Call of Duty, and Trackmania.
The tier 1 slate also features Rainbow Six Siege and follows Gamescom’s recent collaboration with Ubisoft to host a partnered tournament as part of the EML Challenger Circuit.
Tier 2 tournaments include Battlefield: REDSEC, Call of Duty: Warzone, Age of Empires II, and a solo Fortnite competition where the last player standing takes home the lion’s share of the prize money.
Launched in 2024, Gamescom LAN has grown into one of the region’s largest gaming and esports events. It has expanded into new titles and features collaborations with a variety of organisations and content creators, providing an event for fans and aspiring players to compete.
Germany’s Esports Growth
In recent years, Germany has become a top destination for publishers and tournament organisers to host high-profile tournaments. Epic Games and BLAST will host the FNCS Major 1 Summit in Düsseldorf in May.
Outside of hosting events, the German government continues to look at methods to improve its existing ecosystem and infrastructure. In September 2025, it approved a proposal to recognise esports as a non-profit activity in addition to providing tax benefits for companies looking to develop and expand.
February 2026 saw G2 Esports host the Berlin Senate at an industry panel discussing the future of Germany’s esports infrastructure. Topics included how the country can become an international hub for organisations and organisers, alongside the development of infrastructure to support players from grassroots to professional level.
