Message From The Organizer
Conputer Entertainment Supplier's Association(CESA) Chairman; Hideki Okamura
We sincerely thank you for attending the Tokyo Game Show 2016, organized by our association.
The Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) was founded in 1996 as an industry group focused on home video game makers. This year marks the 20th anniversary of our founding. In addition, the Tokyo Game Show, which was held to commemorate our association’s founding, this year turns 26. It has grown into one of the world’s eminent game shows in both content and scale, transmitting the newest information in the video game industry.
Looking back on the 20 years since our association’s founding, there have been a number of large milestones in the game industry, known for its exceedingly rapid succession of technological innovations. However, the last several years in particular have been a phase of transformational change in which the user base and their play style dramatically expanded, surpassing the conventional confines of the video game industry. Together with the rapid development of network technology, an era has arrived in which a wide variety of gaming contents is offered not just through home video game consoles, but also smartphones and other smart devices. Thanks to this, users can now come into contact with gaming content anytime and anyplace, as well as play interactively with users from around the world through networks. We have truly entered an era in which many barriers such as borders, generations, and hardware have been overcome, allowing users to play in games with a single world-view through various hardware. Looking back on the conditions 20 years ago when we were founded, it feels like the state of the current video game industry is a world away from those times.
In line with the trends of these times, the motto of this year’s Tokyo Game Show 2016 is “Press start to play the future”. The video game industry has grown strongly in the past through each technological innovation. This year’s theme contains the strong message that through innovations produced by new technology, game makers create new value in entertainment and change the world. For example, gaming content that leverages the new, recently surging technologies VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality) are offering new entertainment value to the world, and we expect that new ways of enjoying entertainment will be created.
The Tokyo Game Show 2016 is arranging diverse programs such as the CESA20 Anniversary Program, various business sessions, a VR program, and various child-oriented programs. The number of participating companies will exceed last year’s record number.
This is all primarily thanks to the generous support and cooperation of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, association members, exhibitors, and everyone else involved, for which we give our deep thanks.
In addition, we are organizing the “Japan Game Awards”, which announces and recognizes excellent video game software, treating video games as culture.
Award ceremonies will be held over the three days of the event for the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award, granted to individuals who contributed to our industry’s development, the Games of the Year Division which recognizes excellent titles from the past year, the Amateur Division for original titles created by future video game creators, as well as the Future Division, which recognizes highly anticipated titles from amongst the unreleased titles displayed at the Tokyo Game Show 2016.
We welcome you to participate in the award ceremonies that recognize winners of the Japan Game Awards chosen from the many game software titles being released, as well as the creators who produced them. We hope you get to experience the magnificence and possibilities of entertainment.
These days, with the barriers between platforms and the borders between businesses falling, we are proud that the Tokyo Game Show, where all sorts of platforms gather, is playing an ever more important role as not only a global business spot, but also a place to experience the appeal and possibilities of entertainment.
We will continue to contribute to the expansion of this industry and the further expansion of the Japanese economy, so we ask for your continued support and guidance.
Co-organizer: Nikkei Business Publications CEO and President: Suguru Niinomi
With the Tokyo Game Show marking its 20th anniversary this year, we are honored that Nikkei Business Publications has been able to co-organize the event. We have been cooperating in the planning of the show since 2002, making this the 15th year. During this time, not only have various platforms arisen, and the expressive power of video games increased dramatically, but through the use of networks and smart devices, new ways of enjoying games have emerged, and the user base continued to expand.
With the organizational scale of TGS increasing yearly, the range of exhibitors has also expanded. The number of exhibitors has grown far past last year’s 480 to reach 612, marking a new record. A majority of them, 347, are from abroad. You can sense how the importance of TGS to the global game industry has increased.
This year is being called the birth year of VR (virtual reality), with attention focused on related hardware and contents. TGS has also created a new VR Area where over 30 companies participate. Aside from that, many VR related products and titles will be displayed at the general exhibitions and the Indie Game Area. It is no exaggeration to say that TGS2016 is the place to enjoy the most new VR contents.
The host program “The Future of Entertainment”, set up at the venue to mark the 20th anniversary, will present the state of entertainment that will be following VR. A new type of game that fuses body senses and digital games will be introduced together with cutting edge technology currently being researched.
Nikkei Business Publications is using all types of media to cooperating in the planning of these host programs various lecture. The Nikkei Group is also transmitting news on TGS2016 throughout the world.
We hope that all the people from the game industry as well as users are able to come in contact with new technologies and content, as well as develop relationships.
In addition, I express my deep appreciation to all of the participating people and organizations that cooperated to organize TGS.
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Commerce and Information Policy Bureau Chief Hisayoshi Ando
It brings me great pleasure that the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) is commemorating its 20th anniversary, and will be a grand event this year as well.
Japan’s contents represent “Cool Japan”, which conveys to the world the culture and appeal of Japan. Among these contents, games are especially beloved around the world for their appealing characters, tense realism, and epic world view. In recent years with the rapid spread of new devices such as smartphones, games have surged all around the world to the point of becoming a social phenomenon.
Children familiar with games back in 1996 when TGS started are now adults, and have become parents who enjoy games together with their own children. I would like to express my deep respect for TGS, which created this kind of transgenerational entertainment, and for the efforts of people who have supported this show over the years.
Content such as games is ranked as a central element of the government promoted Cool Japan strategy. The “Revised ‘Revitalization Strategy’ 2016”, approved by the cabinet in June of this year, addresses cultural transmission and market expansion using new content-oriented technology and techniques. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is also working to support transmitting information overseas through CoFesta (Japan International Content Festival), as well as localizing and promoting content.
Moreover, I have learned that VR (Virtual Reality) and AI (Artificial Intelligence) will have a prominent position at TGS2016. Advances in VR technology, as well as the use of IoT (Internet of Things) and AI is bringing creative potential and innovation to all industries. Games are no exception, with the way we enjoy games expected to see big changes. I hope “Press Start to Play the Future”, the motto of TGS2016, will lend momentum to these developments.
Finally, I sincerely wish for the success of TGS2016 and the further development of the game and entertainment industries.
