The Five Golden Rules of "Networking" - Gamescom 2025 Edition
My top five rules for surviving the dreaded games industry mixer.
It's officially Gamescom week. You're on a plane or a train to the world's biggest game show.
S*** I forgot my business cards.
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These parties are all the same 🙄
UGH why did I even sign up for this.
If you'll be in Köln this week, you will inevitably find yourself face-to-face and beer-to-beer with a stranger in the games industry.
The good news? That fellow kölsch holder's palms are just as sweaty as yours, and we're all in the same place with the same common interests:
Games, and making a living related to games.
When I go to events, I recite these Five Golden Rules of Networking to calm my nerves:
90% of the work is the first sentence
Others are as nervous as you are
Take notes after chatting
It's not the last time
We all love games
90% of the work is the first sentence
We all know the feeling. Standing at the bar. Your coworker's late. Everyone seems to be having a better time than you in their small groups. There's no way I can break in there...
Oh wait - there's someone else at the next table, also by themselves, twiddling with their lanyard. Bingo.
In networking, the hardest part (by far) is making initial contact. Then conversations can flow to any number of shared topics. Some ice breaking one liners can be:
"Hey, I'm [insert name], how's Gamescom treating you?"
"Just wanted to say that's a cool [insert piece of clothing], where'd you get it?"
"Hey, how's the party treating you?"
"Cheers! Is that a kölsch too?"
"So what brought you to Gamescom?"
Trust me - once you get the first sentence out, everything becomes easier, and you might meet your next industry friend.
Others are as nervous as you are
It takes time, effort, and money to physically get to Gamescom. If someone is at an industry party, they also have self-selected into wanting to meet new people outside of the show hours.
Don't worry, you aren't bothering anyone!
And it's 100% natural to get sweaty palms and hesitate when walking up to strangers. If someone's twiddling on their phone at another table, they're probably just as nervous as you and trying to distract themselves from the uncomfortable effort of walking up to a stranger.
Save them the trouble by walking up to them instead - you'll see the relief on their face!
Take notes after chatting
If you don't take notes or follow up with new contacts, then you better go to a lot of industry parties to keep in contact with people!
After meeting someone, I usually step off to the side or go to the bathroom, and take 30 seconds of stream of consciousness bullet point notes on my phone. Write down things like:
Name
Role
Company
Something fun you talked about
Something work related you talked about
Idea of how can work together
It's short, easy, and feels good to gather something concrete from the party.
It's not the last time
Events like Gamescom are great at creating urgency. "If I don't close this deal in this meeting, I'm screwed". "If I don't impress them in the next two minutes, I'm screwed".
People live on after the events. In their offices, their homes, on Linkedin, email, and Whatsapp.
Just remember that trust and relationships are built over time (usually years). What makes the difference to someone is not meeting them the first time, but how you stay in contact over a longer period of time.
Because when you run into them at Gamescom in two years or set up a meeting with their whole team then, it will feel more like catching up with a friend than having a business meeting.
Wouldn't you want to work with a friend instead?
We all love games
Lastly - we allll ❤️ games!! It's why everyone put in the effort to get to Köln, when they could've been relaxing at home at their desk with their cat.
It's the secret weapon ice breaker and thing that bonds people in the industry.
When all else fails in networking, just remember the golden question:
"So what games are you playing lately?"
The rest is history.