Korea's largest gaming trade show held in Busan

The opening day of 'G-Star 2023,' Korea's largest gaming trade show held at BEXCO in Haeundae-gu, Busan on Thursday, drew a sizable crowd of visitors from the early hours. Notably, a sign in front of the game demonstration area indicated an anticipated ‘waiting time of 120 minutes.’ This year's G-Star, boasting participation from 1,037 companies across 42 countries, featured an unprecedented 3,328 booths, making it the largest edition to date.

On Sunday, the grand finals of the world's largest esports competition, the 'League of Legends World Championship (Worlds Cup),' will take place at Gocheok Dome in Seoul. The showdown will feature intense competition between the national teams of Korea and China. The fervor for gaming is escalating in the nation's two largest cities, Seoul and Busan.

NCSoft made a noteworthy return to G-Star after an eight-year hiatus, making a splash with a substantial presence -- a 200-booth setup, the most expansive among all participating companies. The company unveiled seven new products, with notable attention garnered by the melee action game 'Battle Crush,' the role-playing game 'BSS,' and the open-world shooting game 'LLL.'

Smilegate RPG, a subsidiary of Smilegate, also made a comeback to the G-Star scene after a hiatus of nine years. The company showcased an exhibition space featuring the 'Lost Ark Mobile' content experience zone and a dedicated media hall. 'Lost Ark,' a massively multiplayer role-playing game (MMORPG), earned international acclaim by setting a global record with 1.32 million simultaneous users last year.

In a notable move, Google Play established an exhibition booth themed around 'cross-platform,' marking its return after a three-year absence. A representative from Google Play stated, "Cross-platform functionality between mobile and PC is a highly-discussed trend in the global gaming market," and further noted, "We intended to spotlight a diverse array of cross-platform gameplay from developers spanning various genres."

During the G-Star Conference, recognized as a pivotal side event of G-Star, Ha Jeong-woo, the head of AI Innovation at Naver Cloud Center, elucidated the practical applications of artificial intelligence (AI). "Generative AI holds significant potential across diverse facets of game production, ranging from conceptualizing storytelling ideas to crafting quests and composing music," he said.


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