From November 17 to 20, an International Game Exhibition 'G-STAR' will be held in BEXCO, Busan Metropolitan City. Held in every November, 'G-STAR' has been a festival place for many people related to games by arranging a year, expressing gratitude to fans, and introducing new games and technologies that will be presented later.

The host city of 'G-STAR,' Busan is also trying to show the appearance reflecting its name 'the city of game' on the basis of know-hows accumulated by hosting 'G-STAR' for many years after 2009. It has been a little sluggish but it is showing a willingness to participate more actively in the game platform industry such as video games and arcade games, which is expected to develop further in the future as well as next generation game content industries such as VR and AR industry.

Even in ‘G-STAR 2016,’ Busan is catching game industry officials’ eyes. This is because it took one step further while its importance in various supporting measures and game industry, which have been proceeded so far, is growing.

Busan’s movement has continued busily from November 17, the opening date of ‘G-STAR 2016’. At 11:45, just before the opening, Busan City, HTC, and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency signed a business agreement for supporting the VIVE-X program and development in the pressroom located on the second floor of BEXCO. At 12:55, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIEK) and Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency concluded a business agreement for the establishment of console and VR game environment and activation of Busan game industry.

This business agreement made us feel Busan's willingness to provide a platform for game companies in Busan to show their unique game contents through various platforms. HTC and SIEK also gave full support to this commitment and added strength to the will of Busan Metropolitan City.




Moreover, for the period of ‘G-STAR 2016,’ ‘Busan Game Pavilion’ for supporting Busan game companies’ promotion activities and ‘Busan VR Cluster Pavilion’ for activating VR industry in Busan are prepared in BTB hall.

In ‘Busan Game Pavilion,’ total 38 Busan game companies such as iPlay, BearDoor, GameDay, MasangSoft, Naki Entertainment participate and have a busy time introducing new games and building new partnerships. In particular, the strengths of 'Busan Game Pavilion' include the ability to meet games on a variety of subjects in one place, as well as the latest games that follow the trends of the game, the existing popular franchise games and overseas cooperation games.

In 'Busan VR Cluster Pavilion,' four companies, including Skonec, Appnori, Youcanstar, and Handmade Game, set up the booths to showcase advanced VR content to visitors and progress business counseling at the same time. Especially, it is receiving great attention, as it is possible to see VR content of various platforms, not limited to certain platforms, in one place.

In addition, 'HTC VIVE VR Special Experience Hall' was installed in the office building of the first floor of BEXCO, allowing visitors to experience VR related contents and hardware in advance. Here, through eight ‘HTC VIVE’ experience spaces, the visitors can play ‘Overturn’ of StudioHG, ‘Mortal Blitz VR’ of Skonec, ‘PingPongKings VR’ of Appnori, ‘Nexperience VR’ of Golfzon Yuwon Holdings, and etc.

Besides, ‘VR & Webtoon Drawing Show’ event will be opened at BEXCO Convention Hall on 19th and 20th to present pleasure and show the possibility of non-game VR technology to visitors who visited ‘G-STAR 2016’.

As such, Busan Metropolitan City is carrying out a variety of activities in order to pursue the name ‘City of Game’ through ‘G-STAR 2016’ event. In some ways, four-day exhibition period may be a short period to show Busan’s will, but there will not be any event as good as ‘G-STAR 2016’ to look back on one year and determine its development in the future.