![]() TGS features a massive section of floorspace dedicated to merchandise. Nintendo has its issues, of course, but it is the only company that’s willing to step out there for you in Japan. Sony has, apparently, outgrown the need for indies, and Nintendo stepped in to sponsor the indie area, even though Nintendo itself doesn’t attend TGS. When I first attended TGS, the indie section had massive “We <3 Indies” sponsorship banners from Sony. ![]() Interestingly, the current champion of the indies is Nintendo. There was everything from ASCII RPGs, right through to visual novels that explore the history and political environment of Taiwan. Dozens upon dozens of indies attend TGS, and this year the space drew big crowds and plenty of interest. Over the last five years I’ve seen the indie section of TGS grow from something stuck in a corner of a secondary hall to dominating one of the major spaces of the event. Not just the content-driven side of the industry. For all the faults that Konami, Capcom, Koei Tecmo, Square Enix and Sony represent, one thing that’s consistent across them is that they release games that aren’t interested on being all things to all people, so TGS feels very much like an event that’s designed to celebrate the creative energy of video games. ![]() At the same time, TGS is a celebration of gaming… and particularly, the kind of gaming that isn’t part of the trash AAA-blockbusters that plagues the rest of the industry. You can see developers that have clearly set up booths in a bid to find a partner to publish their game (either inside of Japan, or to take it to the rest of the world). The behind-closed-doors stuff does happen. In theory, TGS is meant to be a business-only event – at least, on the Thursday and Friday, when I attend. Wherever you go through the day, you’re sure to come across something that celebrates games and the hardware that they show up on. TGS features a full schedule of “booth girls” (yes, yes, I know they’re controversial), photo opportunities, staged presentations, performances, DJs, special events, and everything else in-between. These developers don’t have the budgets that those behind the blockbusters do, so it tends to get overlooked or laughed at in the mainstream games press, but when you sit down and play this stuff… these games are representative of their cultures and do offer something different. The truth is, there are some really interesting and exciting things being done by developers across Japan, China, Korea, South-East Asian nations, and the Middle East. When Chinese-developed AI-Limit gets chalked up as a “Chinese Dark Souls rip-off” by certain western media outlets, it helps to be able to be here at the show and try out the game for myself (because it’s not, even if the screenshots might lead you to believe that). This year, TGS featured huge booths for both Korean and Chinese game developers. After all, the Asian markets are going to be worth so much more over the medium to long term.Ģ) It’s a chance to get a feel for what Asian game developers are getting up to It’s a sign that the Japanese market is increasingly engaged with mainland Asian markets over the western markets. The likes of Bethesda, EA, Activision and Ubisoft only have a presence through their local partners.īut this is not a sign that the Japanese market is fading into irrelevance. With the exception of a massive Cyberpunk 2077 booth (which was plastered with Spike Chunsoft logos, as the localisation partner in Japan), the presence of western games and developers at TGS is very mild indeed. It is true that the domestic market for locally-produced games is powerful. That could only be an opinion that you hold if you don’t come to the event though. ![]() ![]() People love to claim that the Japanese market is fading, or that TGS is becoming irrelevant. Nonetheless, I still derive great value from TGS, and I figured that for my summary of the event this year, I would share what those reasons are.ġ) It’s an opportunity to get a true sense of the Japanese market I also don’t come to try out the games, as I have a pathological need to avoid queues of longer than 10 minutes. I don’t come for the news, since not that much is actually announced at TGS now that Gamescom has become the new E3, and it takes place just a couple of weeks before TGS. This year is the fifth consecutive year that I’ve attended TGS, and it’s become something that I don’t even question – every year I am coming back to go to this event. ![]()
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