Tokyo Game Show

The Tokyo Game Show has been hosted at the Makuhari Messe’s massive exhibition halls (63,00 m² in total) every year since well before the rise of California's Electronic Entertainment Expo, not to mention Gamescom in Cologne or the Paris Games Week.

Between 1997 and 2001 (the golden age, according to some), TGS was actually held twice a year: in spring 🌸 and in autumn 🍁 (at Tokyo Big Sight). As attendance took a hit from the growing dominance of the E3 on the other side of the Pacific, the show was scaled back to a single fall edition, but gained a 4th day in compensation. In 2025, it was announced that a 5th day will be added starting in 2026, giving:

• 2 business days (reserved for industry professionals): Thursday and Friday;
• 3 public days: Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Organized by the CESA association, recently joined by the Nikkei group, the event now spans up to nine halls linked by outdoor spaces dedicated to cosplay.

One show, two different vibes

Statistically speaking, Tokyo Game Show prides itself on breaking its own records with every edition. In recent years, the show has averaged:

• 500 exhibitors (roughly as many foreign companies as Japanese ones, many of them Asian, especially among the indie developers);
• 1,000 games showcased (though few major titles are actually unveiled during the event itself);
• 2,000 playable stations.

Since the show returned to an in-person format after the Covid 🦠 pandemic, the number of exhibitors has grown every year, reaching 985 participants in 2024 and then 1,136 exhibitors in 2025.

Attendance numbers

Up until 2009, and according to official figures from 2014, the show drew between 100,000 and 200,000 visitors. Since then, it has comfortably cleared that threshold, topping out at a minimum of over 250,000 visitors, of which roughly a quarter attend on the professional-only days, with Sunday being the busiest day overall:

• 268,446 in 2015;
• 271,224 in 2016;
• 254,311 in 2017;
• 298,690 in 2018 (record year);
• 262,076 in 2019;
• online only in 2020 and 2021 (due to the Covid pandemic);
• 138,192 in 2022, for its post-Covid comeback;
• 243,238 in 2023;
• 274,739 in 2024;
• 263,101 in 2025.

As a result, especially on the public days (the weekend), be prepared to face very dense crowds, which can get uncomfortable at times. Fortunately, the Japanese staff help keep things running smoothly (for instance, controllers are wiped down between each try), but as with any major global convention, TGS remains loud and packed with long lines.

In the morning, well before the doors open, several (tens of) thousands of people are already waiting for the festivities to begin. On Saturday and Sunday, it's essentially unrealistic to expect to try more than one or two games, since the display boards often show waiting times of several hours for the most popular titles. After all, this is Japan!

The first two days of every Tokyo Game Show are reserved for industry professionals: manufacturers, developers and media. For reference, a 9m² booth starts at ¥378,000 (~US$2,440) for publishers looking to showcase their games.

That said, these Thursday and Friday sessions remain open to blogs and websites as long as their application is reasonably "serious." And it's well worth the effort. With roughly a third as many people in the aisles and at the booths, the show feels far more breathable. You'll also find more panel discussions, giving you a chance to spot a few industry "stars," particularly Japanese creators.

The real spectacle, though, is saved for the weekend, when the show pulls out all the stops:

• Cosplay takes over the spaces between the halls, offering a real-time gauge of the most popular games and Japanese pop culture products (again with long lines for photos);
• Booth staff, sometimes in fairly revealing outfits, present games and represent brands, though they now hand out fewer freebies, leaving more room for the ever more present and demanding commercial booths (there's no such thing as too small a profit when you're selling goodies exclusively at the show);
• Photo and video permissions are much more limited.

Japanese-style video gaming

In a country that increasingly turns away from the traditional home console market and the "triple-A" blockbusters so beloved in the West, TGS has a distinctly different flavor that can surprise foreign visitors expecting an international-style trade show.

The focus here is heavily on the indie scene and, above all, on mobile gaming. In fact, for years now, about half of the games shown at the event have run on iOS and Android. Beyond that, there are plenty of titles for handheld consoles, and relatively few for home consoles. RPGs and puzzle games of every kind, unsurprisingly, remain hugely popular.

It has to be said that some of the industry's heavyweights don't always treat the event as a must-attend, surprising as that may sound. Nintendo is the most striking example: the powerful Kyoto-based console maker, publisher and developer has skipped Tokyo Game Show since 2001, when it decided to shift its communications strategy toward E3 (long before the era of Nintendo Direct). Microsoft, too, finally threw in the towel in 2015.

That leaves Sony and its PlayStation lineup as essentially the sole major representative of traditional big-budget gaming. Even so, TGS rarely delivers truly major global announcements, which are generally saved for the big E3 press conferences. That said, plenty of games are playable on the show floor, particularly titles set to launch in Japan before the end of the year.