One of the most highly anticipated events in the world of gaming and pop culture, Tokyo Game Show 2024 finally took place yet again at Makuhari Messe in Chiba! Spanning an entire 4 days, this massive event is the single most looked-forward-to event when it comes to video gaming, with countless studios, developers, cosplayers, and fans alike gathering together for performances, merchandise, announcements, and of course, games!
The event spanned a massive area filled with hall after hall of interesting booths, merchants, and play spaces, taking up nearly every part of Makuhari Messe and then some. Like many other conventions and events, each separate area was dedicated to a different aspect of the video gaming industry, from corporate sections to indie sections and various spaces meant for industry-adjacent companies and groups, such as colleges, software developers, and even home decor companies like Ikea.
On the corporate side of Tokyo Game Show, a huge number of wildly popular industry giants showed off enormous booths, cosplayers, and much more. Konami, for example, demonstrated their two biggest upcoming titles, Silent Hill 2 Remake and Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater with a huge space covering both, with one half designed to resemble the latter’s green, forested area and the other meant to capture Silent Hill 2’s eerie, dark atmosphere. Professional cosplayers appeared for both as well, with the Silent Hill side hosting two terrifying nurses featured from the game in real life, while the Metal Gear Solid side hosted a near-identical Snake cosplayer.
In addition to Konami, just about every big name in the gaming industry was also present at Tokyo Game Show 2024 with huge and flashy booths. Sega in particular had a space resembling a full concert stage, primarily to highlight its many new releases in the world of Sonic the Hedgehog, Yakuza, Persona, and more. The stage was also utilized throughout the event, with performances every day featuring the main singer behind the Persona soundtracks, the voice actors from the upcoming game Pirates in Hawaii, and official cosplay appearances from big names in the industry.
On the indie side of the event, many creators offered attendees to playtest their newest and upcoming games, many of which represented their respective countries in denoted halls, such as the South Korea, Germany, Malaysia, and Singapore Pavilions. Giveaways were also commonplace throughout the event to give those willing to try out a smaller studio’s game more of an incentive and also added further to the event’s engagement. Not only were game companies present, but also companies that are critical to the lifestyle of gaming, such as PC manufacturers, hardware and software designers, and even companies like Ikea that were there to showcase what a gamer-centric space might look like with their products.
An outdoor cosplay area was also a big point of interest for this year’s attendees, with a massive number of casual and professional cosplayers gathering to a crowd of fans and photographers while representing their favorite video game characters. This year’s Tokyo Game Show was notably cooler than previous years, which in turn made it more comfortable for people to cosplay. On top of the outdoor cosplayers, nearly every booth had its own professional cosplayers that would represent a studio’s upcoming game characters, with huge names in the industry joining such as Shibuya Kaho and even Enako cosplaying as Futaba from SNK’s upcoming title City of Wolves.
Merchandise was also a big point for fans this year, with those at the event having access to a wide range of premium options when it comes to repping their favorite characters and series. Official booths for merchandise filled an entire hall at Tokyo Game Show 2024, with certain studios such as Hideo Kojima’s Kojima Productions and hit mobile game Nikke: Goddess of Victory, among others, garnering quickly sold-out goods and even quicker lines. Square Enix in particular had a line so massive that it stretched outside, with goods selling out nearly instantly to fans.
Each year, Tokyo Game Show grows to greater and greater fanfare, with studios going bigger and bigger when it comes to hyping up their newest releases and their own presence at the event through booths and performances. No matter how you spend your time at Tokyo Game Show or your reasons for going, the event is truly the perfect celebration of games and gaming culture as a whole, with a truly international feel in its attendance and welcomeness that is hard to find anywhere else or at any other time. We can only wait and see the exciting things Tokyo Game Show has in store for us when it returns in 2025!
