There’s no doubt that 2020 has been a very different year. Many of our favourite games exhibitions and events were cancelled or changed to a completely new digital format with some extremely interesting results. Among one of the success stories for this new digital exhibition experience was G-STAR 2020 [https://www.gotogstar.com/]which took place in November and usually attracts over 200,000 visitors to South Korea.
Of course, with the new digital format, G-STAR was very different this year, but even without the huge live crowds the exhibition was a huge success and set new records for the event. To begin, this year contained the first-ever official G-STAR esports event “The G-STAR Cup”, which was an invitational competition broadcast live over G-STAR TV reaching a global audience of 159,973 viewers. Krafton also used G-STAR 2020 to announce their new esport Competition, PCS3 Asia and showed a new title Elyon from Kakao Games, which may run alongside their PUBG tournaments.
G-STAR TV was also a hugely popular addition to the show with all of the G-CON and the Indie Showcase were extremely popular amongst the gaming community and reached 850,665 views during the show. G-STAR’s main sponsor WeMade was one of many top brands who used the show to announce new game launches, in fact, WeMade decorated several major sites around Busan with Mir 4 branding including BEXCO, Haeundae and Busan Station.
Amongst other game companies launching titles at G-STAR this year were Nexon and their cell-shaded animation style online battle game KurtzPel. Stove studio announced three indie titles including The Diary of Lucie. Kakao showed off some exclusive development stories from ODIN: Valhalla Rising and also there were several new titles from Smilgate including Magic Shop and Teetiny Online. Also, Neowiz Next displayed some great PC games with Bless Unleashed, Plebby Quest, Skul: The Hero Slayer and Metal Unit all on view at the show too.
There was plenty of VR content at G-STAR 2020 too, with KT Real Cube displaying their use of VR for healthcare and Oculus Quest 2 displaying enhanced functions. There was also VR games content too with Beat Saber on display to the thousands of fans over twitch. With live biz matching for business guests available from 45 different countries, there were thousands of great meetings held all rounded up with KAMP’s K-POP Concert.
Korea on the Rise
Korea is the fourth biggest gaming market in the world and G-STAR represents the most friendly and accessible route to the whole of the APAC games market. With Japan, China and the ever-growing SEA market always in attendance, G-STAR remains one of our hottest tips for making waves into this ever-expanding games market. Having overcome the challenges of this year, G-STAR 2020 has impressed, with their ability to deal with the current climate and deliver a quality exhibition and set new records at the same time.
G-STAR and Pocket Gamer Connects have been promotional partners for several years now and this year they joined to bring you several amazing conference combos. Although these deals have now finished, you are still able to book tickets to our next digital event Pocket Gamer Connects Digital #5 happening 8-13 February 2021. With over 200 expert speakers, 14 tracks, 1500 attendees and lots of exciting fringe events including, Investor Connector, Big Indie Pitches (Mobile & PC/Console), Publisher Speedmatch, Journalist Bar, Careers Week, Discord Server and more – can you afford to miss out? Start your 2021 with a deal-busting event and get a huge discount on ticket prices right now!
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pocket-gamer-connects-digital-5-tickets-128516242541
