April 16, 2024

• 

The port city of Busan is expected to see a splurge of footfalls in November, with Korea’s biggest annual game convention G-Star slated to return Nov. 14-17 at Bexco.

On the eve of the game trade show, the yearly Korea Game Award ceremony will reward the best games of the year at the Cultural Hall at Centum City, the city’s largest department store complex. 

Stormtroopers promote Netmarble`s "Star Wars Force Arena" at G-Star 2016 (Sohn Ji-youung/The Investor)

Last year’s winners were Pearl Abyss’ Black Desert Mobile and Nexon’s Durango: Wild Lands.

Visitors are given previews of the upcoming games in developments from all the major players in the gaming industry in Korea at G-Star.

The event is also attended by many foreign game companies.

This year, an increased number of Chinese companies will set up booths, reflecting the growth of their presence here.

Supercell, a Finnish mobile company that is owned by China’s internet titan Tencent, is the main sponsor of G-Star 2019.

At the Global Game Conference, experts from game industry will participate in 35 informative sessions, including four keynote speeches, on the topics of games across the mediums of console, PC online, mobile, cloud, intellectual property, marketing, graphic and indie. 

The Korea Association of Game Industry organizes the event, with support from the Ministry of Culture.

A G-Star mobile application is being developed to facilitate visitors’ experience during the event.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)