CESA Announces Tokyo Game Show Program Details

Representatives from the CESA (Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association) have announced new details of this year’s Tokyo Game Show, due to take place between September 20th and 23rd, including incorporation of the event into the Japan International Contents Festival (CoFesta). The CoFesta organization was launched this year to provide opportunities for publicizing content developed in Japan to the world. It also incorporates other events celebrating markets such as animation, manga, music, broadcasting and film – all of which will take place around the same time this autumn. As expected, in the wake of the downsized E3 expo in Los Angeles, the CESA has attempted to organize the biggest Tokyo Game Show event yet, with 168 exhibitors occupying 1,708 booth units. This compares to 148 exhibitors and 1,701 booths the previous year. The event will also feature a larger international presence than previously, with 51 exhibitors from outside Japan, including firms from The Netherlands, Sweden, Thailand the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, Israel, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and other countries and regions. As previously announced, the event will now include two business days, instead of just one, with the “Developer Tools and Middleware Corner” re-envisioned as the “Business Solutions Corner”. The number of exhibiting companies will also more than double from 12 in 2006 to 29 this year. As well as a keynote address from Sony Computer Entertainment president and CEO Kazuo Hirai, there will also be four other special sessions focusing on “online games”, “characters”, “mobile phone games” and “finance and marketing”. Mobile phones in particular will be a focus of the show, with three major Japanese carriers exhibiting their products and services, with NTT DoCoMo also sponsoring the event. Despite rumors to the contrary, there is no evidence at this time that Nintendo will break from tradition and have their own booth at the event. All other major Japanese publishers and developers will be in attendance though, including Banpresto, Capcom, Koei, Konami, Level-5, Namco Bandai, Sega, SNK Playmore, Sony Computer Entertainment, Square Enix and Tecmo. Microsoft will be one of the only Western companies to operate their own booth. Further information about the event, including the full program of events, can be found at the English language version of the official Tokyo Game Show website.