GGL Wire

This year’s Tokyo Game Show, to be held September 20-23, will be the largest since the event’s inception in 1996.  The Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association (CESA) announced the details in a press release today.

TGS is expected to be the world’s largest game industry convention, in the wake of the downscaling of E3.  Only the Leipzig Games Convention rivals TGS in scale.

In the past, the three-day show had the first day open only to those in the gaming industry.  This year, a second industry-only day was added.

From the press release, in Engrish:

As of July 31, the projected participation in TGS2007 is 168 exhibitors occupying 1,708 booth units. This would make it even larger in scale than the largest past show (148 exhibitors, 1,701 booth units, in 2006).

This may be attributable to the fact that this year marks the full-scale introduction of software titles for the new game platforms released over the past 1~2 years. With numerous major titles set to go on sale, this year’s game show serves as an ideal forum for titles to steal a lead in the run-up to the critical end-of-year/New Year’s sales season, which can be expected to draw even greater interest from visitors to last year’s event.

The show will take place at the Makuhari Messe Convention Center in the western region of Chiba Prefecture, close to the Tokyo Disney Resort. It is expected to draw 180,000 visitors.  Sony CEO Kaz Hirai is scheduled to give the keynote address.