It is a return to a long-awaited normalcy the gamers of Japan, no, the gamers of the world, so rightfully deserve.
I know being invited as press to the event means that I have a duty to report on the latest games, gadgets, and great ideas the event had to offer. And I will do that, I promise.
But when I sat down today, exhausted from the event, I felt nothing but gratitude, and I wanted to first report on that.
When faced with a global pandemic, war in Europe, and divided nations, the cancelling of TGS 2020 and 2021 pale in comparison.
However, these seemingly small events are the things we look forward to every year. We work hard and push forward, waiting for them. And when enough of the small things you look forward to in life are canceled, life itself starts to lose colour.
I'm glad that today, at least in some small way, the gaming industry of Japan has started to show some colour again.
TGS 2022 TL;DR
HackerNoon was onsite at this year's TGS and we want to bring you our firsthand experience of the event.
Tokyo Game Show 2022 wasn't as good as the last event (in 2019), but it had large shoes to fill with limited resources to fill them.
2019 was a huge year for video games and an incredible year for TGS. That year, we saw Cyberpunk 2077, Death Stranding, and Final Fantasy 7 Remake all exhibited at the event.
The first year the big event returns to Japan's shores suffers from a lack of international guests. Not everyone is comfortable, prepared, or allowed to travel to Japan and we'll likely see a smaller show because of that.
But despite its shortcomings, Tokyo Game Show 2022 is more than just a video game convention; it is the start of our comeback.
Attendance During Business Days Ramping Up to Pre-Covid Levels
On the first day of the event, there were much fewer attendees than in 2019. Most of the games were anywhere from a 15-minute to 1-hour wait.
While that sounds pretty bad, many lines at TGS 2019 were a 1.5 to 2-hour wait.
On the plus side, it means those in attendance were able to play more games in a much shorter time!
However, on the second business day, it was pretty much as crowded as I remembered. In certain popular sections, it was hard to even walk through.
Meta Quest Wait Time on Second Business DAy
Some lines were so long you'd be waiting upwards of 2 hours to try to play the game.
And some games like Sonic Frontiers had so many people waiting that they had to stop accepting people for the rest of the day.
The Best of The Triple-A Game Showcases
There were many great game development companies exhibiting at this year's event.
Some of those great companies include:
- Capcom
- THQ Nordic
- Sega
- Atlus
- Square Enix
- Bandai Namco
- Valve
Some of the Best Games Exhibiting This Year Were
- Sonic Frontiers
- FF7 Crisis Core Reunion
- Bomberman 2
- Valkyrie Elysium
- Persona 5 Royal
- Resident Evil Village for PSVR 2
- Forspoken
Among the best of the showcases had to be Sonic Frontiers. Not only did they have a huge well-designed booth, they even had a life-sized Sonic waiting to take pictures with you at the photo booth.
Sonic Frontiers Booth at TGS 2022
Great VR Presence
As a self-diagnosed VR junkie, I was really happy to see the large VR presence at the event and the excitement around it. There was an entire hall dedicated to VR, with exhibitors such as Meta Quest, Pico, bHaptics, Kat Walk, and a wide variety of indie VR devs.
What was even better to see was the interest of attendees in the VR space. Among the longest lines at the entire convention were for Meta Quest 2 (as seen in an earlier picture) and Pico. Some games for Pico had a 1-and-a-half-hour wait.
What made me even more excited was the vast amount of VR game peripheral companies exhibiting.
There was an awesome new haptic rifle stock company Striker VR, as well as MULTIPLE haptic glove companies showing off their technological advancements.
Insane Indie Ingenuity
For lovers of indie games, TGS 2022 was a dream. There were indie devs and publishers from Malaysia, Vietnam, Germany, Korea, Hong Kong, and more!
It was cool to see games I'd seen floating around Facebook indie game groups in their Kickstarter phase, actually showing off demos at the event.
I remember a year or two ago, seeing The Wandering Village on this Facebook group when the game was just an idea:
Today, I saw it at the WhisperGames indie booth!
Final Thoughts
This was just a short first impressions post of TGS 2022. There will be more posts to come!
All in all, it was an amazing event, one that I'd been waiting for for 2 years. Luckily, it didn't disappoint. I'm looking forward to TGS 2023 and all the amazing experiences the video game industry has to offer until then.