The largest French fair dedicated to video games will be inaugurated on Tuesday evening by Rima Abdul Malak, Minister of Culture, and Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate for the Digital Transition
After the cancellation of two consecutive editions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the “Paris Games Week” is back: the largest French fair dedicated to video games reopens its doors on Tuesday in Paris, with the presence of the main console builders.
Before celebrating its reunion with the public from Wednesday, and until the end of the All Saints holidays, the show will be inaugurated on Tuesday evening by two members of the government, Rima Abdul Malak, Minister of Culture, and Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate for the Digital Transition, in front of an audience of professionals from the sector.
If the video game remains the favorite digital leisure of young people, with 95% of 10-17 year olds who play it, the practice concerns more than 37 million French people, 53% declaring even to play it “at least once a week”, according to the annual study of the Syndicate of Leisure Software Publishers (Sell).
A sign of the importance of the event, the three major manufacturers of video game consoles, Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, will be meeting for the first time in more than three years in the same show.
Publishers (Ubisoft, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Sega, etc.), distributors like Fnac and social network giants like TikTok, will also be there to animate Paris Games Week, like more than one hundred exhibitors.
A large stage, with 800 seats, will be installed, including several esports competitions announced.
“This shows that (France) counts on the video game planet and that physical fairs are far from dead. On the contrary, they have a bright future”, underlined with AFP Nicolas Vignolles, general delegate of Sell, at the origin of the demonstration.
Cosplay, esports and novelties
The organizers are aiming for around 180,000 visitors at the Porte de Versailles for this 2022 edition, while the influx was around 300,000 visitors before the pandemic, but in a larger format.
If the Paris Games Week is not the place of the big announcements of new titles, the show remains important for the French “gamers”, who have the opportunity to test the novelties of the end of the year, like “Just Dance 2023 “.
Other highlights on the menu for this “restart” edition: cosplay parades and contests (disguises of pop-culture characters), a space dedicated to “made in France” games and “retrogaming” (old games ), but also conferences on the major themes that cross the sector. From the issue of accessibility to training and diversity in the video game professions to the importance of diversity and the place of women, in a context where several “streamers” have cried their anger bowl in the face of sexist and sexual cyberviolence that they have suffered for years on the networks.
In a trend further accelerated by the health crisis, publishers are increasingly revealing their upcoming games at their own online events. But the major global fairs in the sector are making a comeback, like the “Tokyo Game Show”, held online in 2020 then in a hybrid version (online and in person) in 2021, and which was held in its original form. classic last September.
The biggest annual video game event, the E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) in Los Angeles, still canceled in 2022, will also make a comeback in June 2023.