// PC GAMER — GAMING
CD Projekt Red opens its 'Arasaka hardware archives' to help an indie dev whose gear was stolen during 1 of at least 4 Gamescom thefts
In a statement, Gamescom organizers said attendees "are advised to insure equipment against theft."
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On Friday, August 28, indie developer Ryan Laley posted a video on X to say his Gamescom 2026 attendance was being cut short after discovering that all his team's laptops had been stolen from its booth during an alleged overnight theft. In the post, the visibly distraught dev called the incident "a huge blow financially and mentally," and confirmed that police reports had been filed.
Laley's post earned an outpouring of support on the platform from gamers and fellow developers—including Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red, which offered to "check the Arasaka hardware archives and see if we can send a few things your way." Laley, however, was just one of a number of developers and publishers that reported similar thefts over the weekend, generating concern about the efficacy of Gamescom security practices.
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 pic.twitter.com/dKpp3Of6dfAugust 28, 2026
Just hours after Laley reported the theft of his team's laptops, fellow indie developer Tessera Studios made a similar post, saying that they had arrived at their Gamescom booth two days prior to find that their storage had been forced open and robbed of controllers, a Steam Deck, and two laptops which "contained not only our Gamescom demo, but also personal, company, and critical information."
"The damage that this caused to us was pretty huge," Tessera Studios co-founder Marcos Neila said in an uploaded video. "But as far as we know, there [is no] insurance from Gamescom, so we don't really know if we are going to get something in return."
Publisher iam8bit said they suffered another theft during the event, claiming that on Friday its staff "arrived to our station in the business area hall to discover that our two laptops had been stolen overnight, despite the presence of Koelnmesse security."
In addition to losing the stolen equipment, iam8bit said the theft could result in the leak of unfinished builds for Petal Runner and Escape Academy 2—the games it was presenting during the show.
"This is hugely disappointing for us and our development teams at Nano Park Studios and Coin Crew Games who worked tirelessly to prepare for this show," iam8bit said.