Thousands of gamers gather in Busan for G-Star 2022

Visitors try out new games at the G-Star 2022 game festival at Bexco, Busan, on Thursday. [NEWS1]

 
BUSAN — The Bexco convention center in Busan was bustling on Thursday morning with thousands of excited gamers waiting to be the first to enter G-Star 2022, the biggest annual game festival in Korea.
 
“I’ve been waiting here since 9 p.m. yesterday,” said 28-year-old Jeong Eun-su, who was first in the queue of visitors who were allowed to enter from 11:30 a.m.
 
Standing next to Jeong was 23-year-old Kim Isaac, who flew to Busan from Seoul. 
 
“I wanted to be the first to get my hands on the limited goods that companies give out and play the latest games first,” he said.
 
G-Star 2022, organized by the Korea Association of Game Industry (K-Games), kicked off on Thursday for a four-day run until Sunday at Bexco convention center in Busan under the slogan, “The Gaming Universe.”
 

G-Star 2022, the annual game festival organized by the Korea Association of Game Industry (K-Games), kicked off on Thursday at Bexco, Busan. [SONG BONG-GEUN]

Thousands of visitors to G-Star 2022 are lined up outside Bexco, Busan on Thursday morning. [YONHAP]

 
It is the largest G-Star in three years, which was held entirely online in 2020 and in an on-and-offline hybrid format last year due to the pandemic.
 
At this year’s event, 987 companies from 43 countries will take part, taking up 2,947 booths in total. That’s 112 percent more booths than last year, when 638 companies from 45 countries took up 1,393 booths due to the ongoing pandemic, but slightly less than the 3,208 booths that were set up in pre-pandemic 2019.
 
“I’m excited because all the big companies are back this year, like Nexon, and huge games are awaiting us,” said a 28-year-old male surnamed Jang. “I’m particularly interested in Netmarble’s Solo Leveling: Arise.”
 
Solo Leveling: Arise is a PC and mobile game developed by Netmarble’s subsidiary Netmarble Neo, based on the popular web novel and webtoon series “Solo Leveling” by author Chugong. “Solo Leveling” is the most popular series from Kakao Entertainment, having garnered over 14.2 billion views as of July this year.
 
Mobile games, such as Solo Leveling, have been taking center stage in recent years.
 
But now game companies are aiming to introduce multi-platform games, which can be played across different devices such as mobile and console, in an aim to appeal to a wider range of users — especially gamers in the Western world who are more acquainted with console games than mobile.
 

Visitors try out new games at the G-Star 2022 game festival at Bexco, Busan, on Thursday. [SONG BONG-GEUN]

 
Nexon is one such example. Of the four games it set up for visitors to play at its booths, three games — The First Descendant, KartRider: Drift, and Dave the Diver — will be available on consoles and either mobile devices or computers. The First Descendant, a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG), will also be available on both PC and console when officially released next year.
 
Netmarble’s new Arthdal Chronicles MMORPG will also be a PC and mobile cross-platform game, based on the “Arthdal Chronicles” (2019) drama series produced by Studio Dragon. The company has set up 160 devices for visitors to play on.
 
Wemade, the main sponsor of G-Star 2022 will present Night Crows and Legend of YMIR at its booths, along with blockchain games using its Wemix platform.
 
Other companies’ newest offerings include: Kakao Games’ Ares: Rise of Guardians, Goddess Order, Dysterra and Archeage War; Krafton’s Callisto Protocol, Moonbreaker and Defense Derby; and Neowiz’s Lies of P.
 

Officials from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korea Association of Game Industry (K-Games), Busan city government and participating companies stand for photos during the opening ceremony of G-Star 2022 held at Bexco, Busan, on Thursday morning. [YONHAP]

 
Major global companies are also taking part, such as Epic Games, Tencent subsidiary Level Infinite and TikTok Korea to introduce their IT and gaming products.
 
Government bodies, such as the Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency and the Gyeonggi Content Agency, will participate by giving smaller regional developers a space to exhibit their works. The Asean-Korea Centre, the Embassy of Canada and the Embassy of Sweden have also set up booths.
 
The G-Star Conference takes place on Thursday and Friday, featuring experts in the tech industry from in and outside of Korea, including French company Quantic Dream’s CEO David Cage, Striking Distance Studio’s Chief Development Officer Steve Papoutsis, the Final Fantasy franchise’s art director Isamu Kamikokuryo and Ryozo Tsujimoto, creator of the Monster Hunter series at Capcom.
 
This year’s event was held across a larger physical space to minimize the risk of safety issues that could arise due to over-crowding. Around 244,000 people visitors were recorded in 2019.
 
Thousands are expected to visit every day until Sunday. G-Star is held every year on the week when the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) takes place to provide a students a chance to relax and unwind.
 
Some 550 officials from the Busan city government, organizers and police will be safeguarding the grounds every day, according to the organizing committee.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]