Tokyo Game Show confirms public physical event for first time in 3 years
Japan’s flagship games event will return to an in-person show open to business and public visitors
Tokyo Game Show will hold its first public physical event in three years, organisers CESA, Nikkei and Dentsu announced on Monday.
TGS 2022 will be held for four days from Thursday, September 15 to Sunday, September 18 at its traditional venue of the Makuhari Messe in Chiba City, with business and general visitors able to attend.
A limited number of tickets will be sold in line with local government policies on Covid-19. However, elementary school students and younger children will be barred from this year’s TGS “due to uncertainties of vaccination situations among young people”.
For the past two years, TGS has been a digital-only event, with last year’s show allowing some domestic journalists and influencers to attend a behind-closed-doors section via special invitation.
The 2022 show will continue the live broadcast portion first introduced in 2020, with “most” programs planning to stream in both Japanese and English.
According to organisers, the theme for TGS2022 is “Nothing Stops Gaming.”
It said: “Over these two years, various fun events disappeared from our daily life, but games still lightened up our days. Games will continue to brighten up the days of everybody now and forever—this year’s theme implies such strong determination.”
Since the Covid-19 pandemic started nearly two years ago, Japan has enforced strict entry restrictions for foreigners, and it’s not yet clear if these will be lifted any time soon.
TGS is the latest games industry show to confirm a return to physical. GDC will take place in San Francisco next month and Germany’s Gamecom has also said it hopes to hold a physical event later this year.
However, the games industry’s flagship showcase E3 has confirmed it’s cancelled its in-person show for a third consecutive year.
