ChinaJoy Game Conference Drew 150K Fans Last Weekend
ChinaJoy, the biggest video game conference in Asia, held its annual event last weekend with 150,000 gaming fans in attendance in Shanghai.
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ChinaJoy, the biggest video game conference in Asia, held its annual event last weekend with 150,000 gaming fans in attendance in Shanghai. Although there was nearly half the number of visitors this year, organizers say millions more watched the conference’s live streaming events from home.
“We think this will help China and the world’s digital entertainment companies return to the track of rapid development as soon as possible, boost the confidence of the industry, help the industry to resume its normal,” Zhihai Han of Howell International Trade Fair told the BBC.
ChinaJoy did enforce new safety protocols. Attendees had to wear masks and undergo temperature checks before accessing the venue. Gamers were also required to confirm their recent health status via a digital health code on their smartphones. Meanwhile, those watching from home were able to visit virtual pavilions, watch live streams, and participate in events.
“I really think this might be the beginning of what many want for customer-centric game shows. We expect this to be a standard for future events,” said Luke Stapley, senior marketing manager at Cocos, a Chinese gaming company. “We worked very hard to provide a website experience that allowed people to view the biggest events at the show and research new games from their homes.”
A spokesperson for Bilibili, a popular video platform in China, said that the pandemic has accelerated digitalization around the world and live streaming has become mainstream, a trend that is expected to continue in the future.
Among the biggest names at ChinaJoy, which is held at the 200,000-square-meter Shanghai New International Expo Center, were developers and tech firms like Tencent and NetEase. However, many foreign developers, like Microsoft and Sony, chose to forego the event due to travel restrictions.
Still, the four-day event attracted more than 200 companies, including gaming giants Blizzard, Tencent, Ubisoft, and Epic Games as well as e-commerce platforms JD.com and Taobao. All in all, ChinaJoy promoted nearly 1,000 new products.
One of the main draws at the conference were esports developers. On Bilibili, the number of views of e-sports videos topped 44 billion last year, as competitive gaming surges in popularity and prize money increases.
ChinaJoy attracts gamers from across China, especially teens and preteens hoping to test run out new games. Others attend to cosplay as their favorite game characters, a safe choice if your character wears a mask. Despite having fewer visitors, ChinaJoy was far from quiet this year. Game for Peace, the Chinese version of PUBG Mobile, held a boisterous electronic music concert with DJs and dancers.
Source: BBC
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/chinajoy-game-conference-drew-150k-fans-last-weekend/