'G-Star 2023' Opens, Held for Four Days from the 16th
President Yoon Seok-yeol's Surprise Congratulatory Message "The Impact of the Game Industry is Tremendous"
On the 16th, President Yoon Suk-yeol delivered a video congratulatory message at the opening ceremony of 'G-Star 2023' held at BEXCO in Busan.
The international game exhibition 'G-STAR 2023' has returned with the largest scale ever. After 8 years, NCSoft is participating again, and many game companies that had not appeared at G-STAR for a while are bringing several new titles, raising expectations among game fans. This year's G-STAR has prepared various attractions, including an expansion of outdoor exhibitions.
The Largest Scale Ever 'G-STAR 2023'
Marking its 19th edition this year, ‘G-STAR 2023’ is hosted by the Korea Game Industry Association and jointly organized by the G-STAR Organizing Committee and the Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency, taking place over four days from the 16th to the 19th.
This year, ‘G-STAR’ features participation from 1,037 companies across 42 countries. The number of booths has expanded by about 13% compared to last year, totaling 3,328 booths. This surpasses the previous largest scale in 2019 (3,208 booths), setting a new record.
At the opening ceremony held at 10 a.m. that day, President Yoon Suk-yeol made a surprise appearance via video. Although he initially considered attending the G-STAR 2023 opening ceremony in person, he participated through video due to an overseas trip schedule.
This is the first time a sitting president has sent a congratulatory message to the G-STAR opening ceremony. In his video message, President Yoon said, "The game industry, which accounts for 70% of our country's content exports, has an enormous impact on the digital industry," and added, "The government will strongly support everything from production assistance to institutional improvements so that the game industry can gain international competitiveness and lead the global market."
This year, many game companies that had not appeared at G-STAR for a while are participating. NCSoft, participating for the first time in 8 years, is appearing with new weapons rather than its flagship IP (intellectual property) Lineage. NCSoft will unveil the most new games among participants, revealing seven new titles.
Smilegate is setting up a booth in the BTC hall for the first time in 9 years. Until now, it had only attended G-STAR in the B2B (business-to-business) hall. Smilegate will unveil the mobile version of its flagship hit ‘Lost Ark’ for the first time.
Leaders of the Gaming Industry Gather
At G-STAR, owners and CEOs of major game companies and other leaders gather in one place.
That morning, Kim Taek-jin, CEO of NCSoft, known as a reclusive manager, made a surprise visit to the NC booth. Visiting late the previous night and staying until early morning that day to personally oversee the site, CEO Kim expressed his thoughts on returning to G-STAR after 8 years, saying, "We are still worried if anything is lacking and are preparing to welcome players."
He said, "As new generations emerge, the customer base enjoying games also changes with new generations," adding, "Genres that were marginalized, such as subculture, are now becoming mainstream." He continued, "As trends change, customers change, and game development is striving to adapt well and lead new cultures," and added, "G-STAR is a place where we can see how well our new titles fit the players."
Additionally, Smilegate’s founder and CVO (Chief Visionary Officer) Kwon Hyuk-bin and Krafton Chairman Jang Byung-gyu are expected to make surprise appearances at the venue. Smilegate RPG will unveil 'Lost Ark Mobile' for the first time at the G-STAR B2C booth this year, and Krafton will showcase two new titles, 'Dark and Darker Mobile' and 'Project Enjoy.'
G-STAR Covers Various Themes Including AI and Webtoons
The G-STAR BTC hall uses the entire first exhibition hall and the entire first floor of the second exhibition hall at BEXCO, and the scale of the outdoor exhibition, which was temporarily reduced last year, has been greatly expanded.
The first exhibition hall hosts booths from Wemade, Google Play, NCSoft, Netmarble, Smilegate RPG, Inven, Krafton, Epic Games, and others, while the first floor of the second exhibition hall features booths from Webzen, New Normal Soft, Gravity, AMD, Pow Games, Big Game Studio, HaoPlay, Hypergryph, Kuro Games, and SHUEISHA GAMES.
The B2B hall is held on the third floor of BEXCO’s second exhibition hall and is composed of 896 booths, expanded from last year’s 847 booths. Domestic companies include Wemade, Smilegate Holdings, Kakao Games, Pearl Abyss, Gravity, Naver Cloud, Netension, NHN, Dragonfly, Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency, Daejeon Information & Culture Industry Promotion Agency, Daegu Digital Innovation Promotion Agency, Incheon Technopark, and many small and medium enterprises participating through joint pavilions of related organizations. Overseas companies include Xsolla, the Canadian Embassy, the Australian Embassy, Coda Payments, and Mistplay, among others.
The G-STAR Conference (G-CON), which has become a core side event of G-STAR, is held on the first floor of the BEXCO Convention Hall. It aims to increase audience satisfaction through a variety of topics closely related to the game industry, including AI and comics, as well as various game directors.
On the first day’s keynote, Ha Jung-woo, head of Naver Cloud Center, will speak about the applicability of AI, which currently has the greatest influence on the game and content industries. On the second day’s keynote, Shinji Mikami, the father of the 'Biohazard' series and a representative of the horror game genre, will give a lecture. This year’s conference will feature many famous directors representing Japan and the Western world as speakers.
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