Ryan Laley stood in front of a camera with tears in his eyes and told the internet his gamescom was over.
The solo developer behind the upcoming asymmetrical horror game Mimic posted a video to X/Twitter explaining why his “gamescom is over early.” His booth, along with others, had been “raided” overnight in Cologne, Germany. “All our laptops have been stolen,” he said.
Mimic was supposed to be his week. New audience, potential partners, curious players wandering the floor. Instead he’s got a police report.
“As an indie, solo dev, this s**t’s expensive and hard to do all by yourself,” he said. “And to have this happen is beyond frustrating – it’s heartbreaking.”
The math on losing your gear midweek
gamescom opened when Opening Night Live aired Tuesday, August 25, turning the rest of the week over to developers showing what they’ve got. At the time of publication there were still more than two days left in the show, which is what makes the timing so brutal.
Laley reported the theft to security teams and authorities. He isn’t optimistic. “I don’t expect it, obviously, to be found or returned,” he said.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do now,” he added. “I can’t do my job. We’ll post updates if I get any updates, but effectively, gamescom is over for me.”
In his post, he wrote: “My #gamescom cut short. Our equipment was stolen last night from the booth. Police reports have been filed. At a loss for words to describe the feeling. Just defeated. Gonna do my best with what’s left of the week. But a huge blow financially and mentally”
Then the industry showed up
The video traveled far enough to land in front of people with resources. CD Projekt Red, the studio behind The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077, replied with an apology for the situation Laley had been dropped into. The team said it couldn’t “help right this second” but promised to “send a few things” his way.
“No choom should have to start from zero,” its post said.
Joe Henson, the Don’t Scream developer better known as Indie Game Joe, went further and posted a video reply offering support. Laley took him up on it.
“Thank you everyone so much for your support and love,” Laley said in a follow-up post. “I’m trying to say thanks to everyone, but honestly, my fingers aren’t fast enough. Huge shout-out and thanks to @IndieGameJoe, who kindly donated the money to replace my stolen hardware. He truly is a champion for the little guys, and [I’m] so thankful for his support towards all of us indies!”
He’s still on the show floor, just without a booth
Laley came back with another post thanking everyone again, and told anyone curious about Mimic to come find him anyway.
“Thank you for the support everyone. Long crazy day. I’m still around this weekend if you want to catch up at Gamescom. I’ll be boothless but still in my Mimic shirt (a fresh one DW) so come say hi if you see me 🙂 Looking forward to meeting other Devs and trying out their…”
And a second one: “Thank you everyone for outpouring of love and support today! You are the reason why I love this industry ❤️”
Laley wasn’t the only target
Publisher and pop-culture collectible company iam8bit posted its own report of stolen goods, saying two laptops were taken overnight from its station in the business area hall, despite the presence of Koelnmesse security. Those machines were being used to demo the iam8bit Presents titles Petal Runner and Escape Academy 2.
The company added that “on top of disrupting our very busy appointment schedule, this theft has potentially put unfinished builds of these games at risk of being leaked.”
Tessera Studios, currently working on the game show-inspired The Zibbo Show, published a video saying it had been “robbed at gamescom.” The studio described the damage to the team as “pretty huge.” In its post: “We were robbed at Gamescom. On Wednesday, we arrived at our booth in the Indie Area to find our cabinet forced open. Two laptops and a Steam Deck were gone. The devices contained not only our Gamescom demo, but also personal, company, and critical information. Here’s our story”
gamescom organizers have yet to publicly comment on the reports of theft at the event. We’ve reached out for comment.
The part he keeps coming back to
Laley teaches. He mentors, he trains people in Unreal Engine, he visits universities and talks to students who want to break into games. He tells them the same thing every time, and this week he got to point at proof.
“Words can’t describe how much I’m grateful for everyone’s support,” he said. “I’m a mentor and trainer in Unreal Engine, I train a lot of people up and go to a lot of universities, talk to a lot of students who want to get into games, and one of the things I always say to them is how friendly and warm and supportive of each other it is. Today is just evident of that. Proof that you guys are amazing.”
