John Romero Headlines Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show in Bangkok

Gamescom Asia x Thailand Game Show has locked in one of the industry's foundational figures for its 2025 Bangkok edition. John Romero, co-founder of id Software and the designer behind Doom and Quake, will deliver the business area conference keynote titled "Why We Still Make Games" — a talk framed around a lifetime of building games, overcoming setbacks, and navigating decades of industry change. The announcement arrives as the show prepares to scale significantly in its first year partnering with Thailand Game Show after four editions in Singapore.

For developers and industry professionals tracking the event's evolution, Romero's presence signals serious intent. His studio, Romero Games, has navigated a turbulent 2025 after an unnamed publisher — widely reported to be Microsoft — pulled funding for a big-budget FPS project, forcing layoffs and a pivot toward a smaller indie shooter. Brenda Romero told GamesIndustry.biz earlier this year that "the industry's in a really horrible place," making his keynote theme feel less like a retrospective and more like a live reckoning with the current moment.

Romero Drops 3 New Projects in Bangkok

The keynote headlines a speaker lineup that already includes Nick Herman and Dennis Lenart of AdHoc Studio, Roblox VP and Head of International Zhen Fang, Tencent's Jane Lau, Godot Executive Director Emilio Coppola, and DigixArt founder Yoan Fanise. The event runs from October 29th to November 1st at a Bangkok venue that will offer 35,000 square metres of floor space — a 20% increase over last year's inaugural Thailand edition. Organisers confirmed Nintendo, Capcom, Sega, the Pokémon Company, Bandai Namco, and AMD as exhibitors.

After four years in Singapore, Gamescom Asia has joined forces with Thailand Game Show, marking a fresh direction for the brand. The first Bangkok edition in 2024 pulled in 206,169 gamers—a number that Prakash Ramajillu, Asia‑Pacific General Manager of Koelnmesse, used to prove the city can handle a top‑tier event at scale. Looking ahead, the 2025 show will expand the venue, add a broader range of brands, and bring together a speaker lineup that spans AAA publishers, console makers, and indie developers. This strategy aims to cement Bangkok’s place on the worldwide gaming calendar.

Romero's First Asian Showdown Sparks Bangkok

• Keynote: John Romero — "Why We Still Make Games"
• Dates: October 29th to November 1st, 2025
• Location: Bangkok, Thailand
• Floor space: 35,000 square metres (20% increase)
• 2024 attendance: 206,169
• Confirmed exhibitors: Nintendo, Capcom, Sega, Pokémon Company, Bandai Namco, AMD
• Additional speakers: Nick Herman, Dennis Lenart, Zhen Fang, Jane Lau, Emilio Coppola, Yoan Fanise

Romero's Bangkok Game Show Shocker

Romero's keynote title carries weight beyond nostalgia. The designer who helped define the first-person shooter genre in the 1990s now runs an independent studio that just survived a catastrophic funding pull — the kind of story playing out across the industry at every scale. His talk promises to address "overcoming setbacks and navigating decades of industry change," which reads as a direct line to the volatility developers face in 2025. For attendees, it's a rare chance to hear from someone who has lived through multiple industry contractions and still chooses to build.

The Bangkok partnership also reflects a broader geographic shift. Southeast Asia's gaming market continues to grow, and Gamescom Asia's move from Singapore to a co-located event with Thailand Game Show positions it closer to a massive player base and emerging development scene. With floor space expanding 20% and major platform holders and publishers already committed, the 2025 edition looks set to cement Bangkok as a fixed anchor on the global events calendar — assuming the industry headwinds Romero plans to discuss don't knock the momentum sideways first.