September 23–25, 2025 | Cologne Game Lab, TH Köln

This year CGL marks its 15th anniversary with Transformations – Dynamics of Change in Media Environments. From September 23–25, international experts from academia, the games industry, and the creative sector come together to explore the future of media, game development, and digital storytelling.

The program features keynote talks by Odile Limpach, Benedikt Grindel, Richard Lemarchand, Lars C. Grabbe, Rami Ismail and Gundolf S. Freyermuth, alongside four thematic summits on embodied encounters, transformative games, artificial intelligence, and the changing pulse of game development. Highlights include a first playtest of the interactive audio-dance performance The Future Is Us (VR Dance Club), the Best of Open Lab showcase presenting outstanding student projects and prototypes, as well as two hands-on workshops: Green Gaming, where participants discuss sustainability trends and challenges in the games sector, and Somatic Design for Media Creators, which introduces somatic strategies as creative tools in immersive media design.

The conference offers a unique platform for interdisciplinary exchange, connecting research, industry, and artistic practice to reflect on how media environments are transforming—and where the future of games and digital culture may be heading