Ryan Laley, the solo indie developer behind upcoming horror game Mimic, posted a video to X earlier today claiming that equipment was stolen from his Gamescom booth between Thursday night and Friday morning.

"Effectively, my Gamescom's over early, as all our laptops have been stolen," Laley explained. "Our booth got raided last night. Not just mine — others as well. All our laptops have been stolen. I don't know—as an indie solo dev, this sh*t's expensive and hard to do all by yourself. And to have this happen is beyond frustrating. It's heartbreaking."

Laley said the incident was reported to Gamescom's center management and security team, as well as the police. He doesn't expect the stolen equipment to be recovered, noting that the perpetrators left the chargers behind and took only the laptops.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do now, as I can't really do my job," Laley added.

In a follow-up comment, Laley explained that his booth was located in Gamescom's business area, which he said has 24/7 security and "limited access at night." It's therefore unclear how the perpetrators managed to enter the area and raid the booths.

"Next time will have to take security into my own hands and extra secure things up or take them back to the hotel each night (which would be a massive pain)," Laley said.

Losing expensive Alienware hardware at one of the world's biggest gaming conventions would be a nightmare for any developer, let alone a solo indie dev.

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