On September 17, Typhoon No. 14 gradually approached Kyushu. The weather was sultry and sunny, and the temperature around Makuhari Exhibition Center was 31 degrees. Today is the first time that the Tokyo Game Show has reopened to the general public following 2 years since the epidemic began in 2020. Gamer Day.
The most curious thing should be… In the midst of the epidemic, how many people will there be on Gamer Day in Tokyo Game Show 2022, which has been over for 2 years? How is it worse than before.
A quick conclusion:There are a lot of people, but it is still worse than before.
The crowd around the venue at 9:30 in the morning before entering the venue.
In the past, the number of people who might go around the exhibition hall around 8:00 a.m. has shrunk significantly this year. In addition to the fact that local Japanese players cannot come because of the epidemic, it is also obvious that a large number of pilgrims from all over the world are missing.
only! There are fewer crowds, which does not mean that those who line up stalls and buy things can take their time. There is still competition.
In the morning, get all the coupons and rush to the sales area first. Take advantage of the few people at the opening time, and buy things first.
Every year, SQEX’s booths are divided into music and surrounding areas. This year is no exception. The surrounding booths are designed with double-sided design, with a photo area in the front and a checkout area in the back. There is no need to take pictures and check out all together as before.
Kojima Production uses online ordering, chooses the pick-up time, and waits until the notification is ready, or when the time is up. The advantage is that there is less time to wait in line, and the disadvantage is that you don’t have to be on the spot when you place an order, as long as you are on the spot when you pick up the goods, so you can only get it early in the morning.
The booth is like this.
Although there are sorting tickets, there are still stalls that must be settled by queuing, so following buying, quickly start the trial game.
This year’s popular projects, Capcom with the latest PS VR2 “Evil Castle 8” VR content, “Monster Hunter Rise: Dawn” new content; SEGA “Sonic Unknown Frontier”, “Dragon in Man”; Square Enix ” Forspoken”, “Crisis Core-FFVII-REUNION”, as well as “Legend of Heroes Li’s Trail II-Crimson Original Sin-“…etc.
Meta Quest, Steam Deck, and some mobile games are also very popular; basically, if you don’t rush in the first time, you will have to wait regarding 2 hours for the more popular projects. Because Steam Deck offers 150 demo machines at a time, the wait time is relatively short.
This year, the crowd in the museum is the biggest difference from the past.
It is also the wave with the most crowds at noon. In the past, the central road on the Players Day was so crowded that it was impossible to move an inch; although there were many crowds this year, it was possible to move forward slowly.
Many players who visited the exhibition soon changed into T-Shirts that were bought by the dealers, and many people dressed up and wore their belongings on their bodies.There are also couples holding hands to visit the exhibition; I can’t help but feel that everyone has really been suffocated in the past two years.
From the booth map below, it is not difficult to spot another trend (?). The momentum of traditional large-scale manufacturers has not diminished, but the booth structure is much simpler than before. The most obvious ones are the booths of Capcom and Square Enix.
SEGA, which used to be streamlined in the past, carried its own old signature Sonic large-scale character inflatable balloon this year. ATLUS has three “Persona” statues and a large circle of display screens at the KONAMI booth. In addition to matching stage activities, , and The most popular 3D display nowadays.
There is also a relatively different place. In the past, the booth with demo + stage was standard. This year, it is obviously dominated by demo, supplemented by stage, and relatively less large-scale stage settings with full sound and light effects in the past (or changed to online live broadcast). , Capcom set up a corner of the booth where you can watch the live broadcast).
This is an independent game area, which has always been a good place for treasure hunting and communication.
It was noon.
Compared with the previous dining area, it was either standing up or using an indoor performance venue. Eating booths were placed on the floor, and the grandstand area on the second floor was used as a dining area. This year, it was changed to an outdoor food stall, and a food area with one-way seating was set up to reduce the risk of infection due to food inversion.
It was very hot at noon, and during peak hours, the stalls queued for at least an hour to take off. It can only be said that everyone worked hard to replenish their physical strength.
There should be players familiar with this one! ? Next to the stall near the main entrance and exit of the museum, you can simply buy some rice, noodles, meals, and beverages; this one is still there, but the curry rice is gone… Then let’s order some fried noodles.
In the past two years, VTuber has become popular at a high speed. This year, VTuber cooperation and promotion activities have begun to attract attention.
Every year there is a wonder (?) Monster energy drink booth is full of people, this year is not easy. . . .
Discord came to the Tokyo Game Show this year, and opened a recruitment force for everyone to post their own channel promotions…. Then I saw the moving Discord mascot for the first time. It turned out that the whole body looks like this (huh).
Because there is no cosplay area this year, and because of the epidemic situation, you must wear a mask to enter the venue. When there was no cosplay area in the early days, the passage areas of the cosplay halls would be crowded. This year, only pedestrians are left.
One of the players’ day signboards is no less than this year. If you encounter a popular cosplayer and are invited to help out, the crowd will double.
Ready to go home, familiar steps, familiar scenery.
This is the 2022 Tokyo Game Show, and this year’s main theme is “the game never stops!”.
Keep going…waiting for tomorrow when everyone can come and play together.
