Consoles Take a Backseat at Tokyo Game Show 2012

Tokyo Game Show 2012

I had a chance to visit the Tokyo Game Show over the weekend, and as many have pointed out the event is seeing smartphones and social games moving in on territory previously dominated by console gaming.

Looking at the breakdown of games by platform, you can see that smartphones by far make up the lion’s share of games exhibited [1]. Perhaps part of this is due to the fact that you can display a mobile game in far less space than you can a console game. But surely it represents a passing of the torch as well, as exhibitors like Nintendo and Microsoft no longer have dedicated areas at the game show [2].

Like last year, GREE was the biggest exhibitor of mobile social games with a huge booth that was perhaps only rivaled by game developer and operator Gloops. Readers may recall that on Thursday, Gloops struck a deal with DeNA to bring new titles to North America, Europe, China, and South Korea in the coming years [3]. GREE still drew much attention with prominent displays for games like Wacky Motors, Metal Gear Solid, and the upcoming title War Corps.

[Download image version of this chart]

And while the big names in mobile gaming were certainly fun to see, I was pleased to see game companies from other countries around Asia representing at the show. An Indonesian booth highlighted notable gaming companies from that country (Agate Studios and Altermyth), and even Malaysian game companies made an appearance.

Chinese game developers were in attendance, but not particularly active with a number of empty chairs in front of most of the booths I visited [4]. Surprisingly, Taiwan had an active presence with Art and Mobile Entertainment leading the way showing off a number of games across many platforms.

There was also a big representation of student game developers at the show, and we hope to follow up with them soon and bring you more details on what they are working on, particularly in the space of mobile games.