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The story
Attendees shared their impressions of Tokyo Game Show (TGS) on 5ch’s “Hardware/Industry (Geha)” board. The main topic was the shrinking number of Chinese-affiliated booths — a cited Yahoo! News article reported that, against a backdrop of worsening Japan-China relations, Chinese game companies’ participation had dropped sharply, with large booths almost nowhere to be seen. In the thread, users debated how exhibitor numbers are actually counted, the shortage of new title announcements, and frustration with promotion strategies that lean entirely on famous streamers — all reflecting the changing landscape around Tokyo Game Show. Some also pointed out that with E3 gone, TGS has become the longest-running dedicated game trade show left in the world.
What people said
This year they even had knockoff Chinese "Game Boys" on display.
Is that really okay?
Sure, but the point is there are way more of them now
Yeah, there used to be a quiet little booth tucked away in a corner somewhere.
I remember trying out a driving-school simulator there as a kid
Which game show did you even go to? Shanghai?
"Something's off at Tokyo Game Show: Chinese game firms drop sharply, big booths nearly gone — worsening Japan-China relations and scheduling cited as factors"
Sat 9/19, 7:22 AM JST
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/98471e1b59e92bc3bf464002d430fcf479046862
Not sure of the exact figure, but that's still plenty
Don't know the source, but a lot of Chinese companies this year skipped a public booth entirely and only had a spot in the back business-meeting area — if you count those in, the visible booth area is even smaller
Just make it an even zero already, Xi Jinping.
*heaves a massive sigh*
Almost 100 companies? That's way too many.
Japan's population is small, so you'd think overseas firms wouldn't bother.
But that one manufacturer is so desperate for Japanese approval that they're keeping a low profile and even trying to cozy up to the two companies whose old titles they used to rip off
The old dazzling, huge booths and lavish freebies are all gone now.
Mobile games barely kept the atmosphere alive, but if you went every year, the decline was obvious
If they had ammo like that, they'd save it for a Nintendo Direct
Stop pandering to streamers.
Remember, streamers are trash who couldn't do anything without the games in the first place
Game magazines, Famitsu included, have fallen on hard times, and every gaming site has nothing but gloomy news these days.
Of course influencers and streamers are stepping in to do the promotion instead — that's only natural.
Just think of them not as regular people but as freelance ad contractors
Sony's news is upbeat alright — blazing bright red every week 🔥 ("in the red," i.e. losses)
Cancelled due to a typhoon (lol)
There's no benefit to giving this one up
Its role as a game exhibition is basically over.
Companies get more reach just posting through their own media channels these days
That's assuming the premise that games got kicked out of the Tokyo Toy Show and urgently needed somewhere new to land
But TGS itself can't get deals done in time either for year-end titles, which release in the biggest sales season…
If you're only talking about the domestic market, there's plenty of time.
As long as you're not doing a worldwide simultaneous release, you're fine
Background and key points of this discussion
Tokyo Game Show is one of Japan’s largest annual video game trade fairs, held every autumn at Makuhari Messe and hosted by CESA (the Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association). It has a history of splitting off from the Tokyo Toy Show, and while Nintendo stayed away for a long stretch, it has resumed exhibiting in recent years. The U.S.’s E3 officially ended in 2023, making TGS one of the longest-running dedicated trade shows still in existence. Regarding the drop in Chinese-affiliated booths discussed in the thread, the cited reporting pointed to worsening Japan-China relations as one contributing factor. That said, some noted that exhibitor counts can vary depending on whether a company had a public booth or was only present in the back business-meeting area, so simple company-count comparisons should be treated with caution.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (“Hardware/Industry (Geha)”) thread “Honestly, TGS has really gone downhill, hasn’t it…“
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