Tokyo Game Show will be an in-person event in 2022, event organizers announced on Monday. It will run Sept. 15 – 18 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. And the theme for this year’s show is “Nothing Stops Gaming.” The event will be held by Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association in cooperation with Nikkei Business Publications and Dentsu.
“Over these two years, various fun events disappeared from our daily life, but games still lightened up our days,” the organizers said, in a release. “Games will continue to brighten up the days of everybody now and forever—this year’s theme implies such strong determination.”
Though TGS is back in person, there will still be some changes in accordance with local COVID-19 governances. There will be a limit to the number of tickets sold, and elementary school aged children and younger will not be allowed to attend “due to uncertainties of vaccination situations among young people,” the organizers explained, in the release.
There will also be a live broadcast of the show, in Japanese with “most” programs in English as well. And other programs that were featured last year, like free trials of demo version of games, can be played from home. This will also include a virtual tour and the TGS Virtual Reality area.
TGS has been primarily digital for the past two years. It was fully online in 2020, and in 2021, the event was executed with a combination of online and in-person elements, where journalists and influencers were given access.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected a number of large conferences and events since 2020. And many industry events continue to be in flux, with regards to their status as in-person or online (or a mix of the two). This year’s Game Developers Conference, in San Francisco, will be in-person. In January, EA announced 2022’s E3 would be held online.
Source: Polygon
