I came to Shanghai.
I had received a call from a Chinese friend the day before saying that a typhoon might be coming to Shanghai, so I landed there with some trepidation, but on the day I arrived, I made it to the hotel safely.
I visit China around this time every year, and it’s changing at a really fast pace. A few years ago I was able to see rapid growth, and now I’m witnessing changes due to stagnation and recession, and stricter regulations in the game industry.
Well, in this article, I will tell you a report on the first day of ChinaJoy from the annual information update that I can understand because I haven’t been there for a long time, and various small stories from the Chinese game world. Key points of this article We will guide you along the way.
Number of visitors
Last year, I felt like there were fewer people, but this year, so far it doesn’t seem to be much different from last year.
This year as well, we may have been unlucky with the bad weather on the first day, but compared to how successful it was before the coronavirus pandemic, it feels like there are fewer people.
When I asked a Chinese friend of mine, he said that like last year, the fans may be attracted to another event called BiliBili World.
ChinaJoy has been a leading player in the Chinese game market since it was still small. That’s why major platforms and manufacturers now gather, and it feels like an event for major companies. Much of the information displayed at exhibition booths can be obtained elsewhere, such as on the Internet, so it is difficult to access fresh information, and the show is more likely to be used as a PR show. My friend’s interpretation is that the number has decreased.
This is certainly happening worldwide, and how to create value in real events is a challenge for many event organizers.
Whether or not we can present our clients with exhibition effects that are worth the high cost will likely be a thorny issue for some time to come.
Indie game corner
*The content of the Indie Game Corner article was corrected on July 29th.
As part of creating new value, I heard that ChinaJoy will focus on the indie game corner starting this year.
I headed to the indie corner looking forward to it, but it was in the same BtoB area as last year, and the layout was almost the same…
That’s what I thought, but there were actually more people at the indie booth than last year.
The specifications of the booth are the same as last year, but the increase in the number of people means that there has been a change in the PR method or title selection criteria. I would like to check this area tomorrow.
I checked and found that there is another indie game area near the BtoC PlayStation corner. I would love to cover this topic later if I have time.
Companion’s costume
As I have covered in videos in the past, ChinaJoy has become a hot topic for its companion’s extreme costumes.
In recent years, regulations on costumes have been clearly defined and have become healthier, but there is a theory that this may have led to a decrease in the number of visitors, and in a commercial sense, regulations on costumes may be relaxed. I was paying attention because I couldn’t do it.
Now, as for the actual situation, this year’s costumes were uniformly uniform.
This is a very good thing, after all, games are entertainment for children and others, so I don’t think it’s good to have too much sexual exposure.
There are a lot of cool and cute things you can do even if you don’t expose yourself when it comes to game cosplay, so it’s a lot safer to do that.
By the way, I saw a few Uma Musume cosplayers at the venue, and I think they looked really cute.
A few years ago, Yoru-san cosplay was popular, but it was often difficult to see where to look.
Sense of situation
I think that’s just saying that the economy is not doing well.
Last year, there were people who said there was a recession, but I still had friends in China who said, “It’s not like that yet.” However, so far this year, all of them say that the economy is not good.
Of course, business sentiment will vary by industry, so I’m not saying that China as a whole is in recession, but I think the game industry is in a relatively difficult situation.
There seems to be a popular saying that game engineers get fired at the age of 35, whether it’s a joke or not, and many engineers who can speak Japanese and English are from China.
A few years ago, there was a lot of investment in indie game studios, but now there are almost no such stories, but small indies are putting a glimmer of hope in it and creating games similar to hit titles. There were also stories about it disappearing.
The only bright spot is that consoles such as the Switch seem to be increasing in popularity, and the market seems to be expanding steadily.
There was also a Switch shop in the shopping mall next to the ChinaJoy venue.
Overall impression
Overall, I feel like it hasn’t changed much from last year and is continuing last year’s trend.
The recession in the game industry is being talked about in Japan, and layoffs are a hot topic in Europe and America, and it is fair to say that China is also in the same trend.
However, this does not necessarily mean that the Chinese game industry is doomed right away; the technological and expressive capabilities in game development, which have grown rapidly over the past few years, will continue to be the driving force behind creating good games. Although the explosive growth has stopped, there are many companies in China, an economic powerhouse, with abundant funds, and they are likely to be steadily making preparations with an eye on markets outside of China.
The people involved in the Chinese game industry that I met and talked to didn’t all have a gloomy atmosphere, they just felt like things would work out somehow, and I get a sense of their strength.
So, that was my impression after the first day of ChinaJoy.
Starting tomorrow, I’d like to give you a report that goes a little deeper into the game, such as a trial play of an indie game.
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