, commonly known as TGS, is a

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

trade fair A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific Industry (economics), industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest Product (business), products and se ...

and convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. The main focus of the show is on Japanese games, but some international video game developers use it to showcase upcoming releases/related hardware. The duration of the event is four days. The first two days of Tokyo Game Show are open only to industry attendees (business) and the general public can attend during the final two days.

History

The first Tokyo Game Show was held in 1996. From 1996 to 2002, the show was held twice a year: once in the Spring and once in Autumn (in the Tokyo Big Sight). Since 2002, the show has been held once a year. 2011’s show hosted over 200,000 attendees and the 2012 show bringing in 223,753. The busiest TGS was in 2016 with 271,224 people in attendance and 614 companies had exhibits. The event has been held annually since 1996 and was never canceled, however the 2020 and 2021 editions were online only as a result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The 2022 edition returned to in-person exhibits. The 20th anniversary of TGS was celebrated in 2016. The 2016 attendance record was topped by 2018's attendance of 298,690 people.

Layout

The TGS layout varies per year. Such as in 2015, Tokyo Game Show showcased eleven exhibition areas consisting of business, general public, education and other areas to buy merchandise.

General Exhibition

The General Exhibition Area is the heart of the show, taking up the largest amount of space, and is held where digital gaming entertainment or any related products or services are showcased. Many well-known companies such as

Bandai Namco Entertainment is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game video game publisher, publisher, and the video game branch of the wider Bandai Namco Holdings group. Founded in 2006 as it is the successor to Namco's home and arcade video game ...

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Square Enix have demo areas here, in addition to emerging companies.

Game Device

This area covers gaming devices such as headphones, controllers, furniture and other devices associated with home-use gaming consoles and portable gaming devices.

Asia New Stars

An exhibition introduced at the 2012 Tokyo Game Show is geared towards introducing emerging game developers from Asia.

Merchandise Sales

This area is designated for merchandising of game-related goods. Vendors include Konami and Square-Enix.

Smartphone and social games

This area focuses on games for smart devices (

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

s and tablets) and social games. Despite record numbers during TGS 2012, many large companies had a smaller presence. For example,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

, which previously had one of the largest booths, was absent in 2012. Social and mobile gaming surged, filling the gap. Microsoft returned to the show in 2013 with the release of the

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

Personal computing

The PC area houses major Japanese computing companies, showcasing products such as Japanese desktop and notebook computers.

Children

This area showcases new games that are aimed at a younger audience. Companies such as Taito and

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

are housed there.

Game school

The Game School area showcases information on Japanese universities and colleges offering information about digital art, animation, computer programming, and other programs of study related to the video game industry. These booths also display student work. It houses colleges such as Numazu Professional College of Information Technology and Tokyo Designer Gakuin College.

Sales

This is the main area in the games convention where most of the sales and business transactions between companies and consumers are carried out. Companies housed there include Nikkei Business Publications.

Cosplay

The Tokyo Game Show attracts many cosplayers. Cure, Japan's largest cosplay community website, hosts Cosplay Collection Night, a parade in stage show with more than 100 cosplayers on Saturday's night. The show starts from 6:30pm until 8 pm and it is hosted by Yunmao Ayakawa and Tatsumi Inui from the production team company CURE World Cosplay, with background music by DJ & MC: WAN. The participants are members of Worldcosplay website with a few international cosplayers who won contests in countries like Spain, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Turkey, the US, and China and others.

Business solutions

This is the main business area and is not open to the public.

Cloud/data center pavilion

The Cloud/Data Center is dedicated to improving infrastructure and environment of social and network games.

''Street Fighter'' tournaments

The Tokyo Game Show has featured a Mad Catz-sponsored '' Street Fighter'' tournament since 2014. The competition is part of

's official Pro Tour, making it a qualifying event for the Capcom Cup. The 2016 event was the first to not be sponsored by Mad Catz, as the company got in severe financial trouble during its 2016 fiscal year.

Sense of Wonder Night

Sense of Wonder Night (SOWN) is a presentation session held yearly at the TGS for showcasing innovative and experimental computer games mainly made by small game studios and independent game developers from all over the world, similar to and inspired by the GDC Experimental Gameplay Workshop. The first edition was held in 2008. Among former and current judges are Keita Takahashi and Simon Carless.

References

External links

*
Official website 2024
{{Authority control 1996 establishments in Japan Culture in Tokyo Recurring events established in 1996 Video game trade shows Video gaming in Japan