Tokyo Game Show marked its 30th anniversary by branding the event as "the longest five days of nonstop play," promising a forward‑looking showcase of gaming’s next chapter. In practice, the exhibition at Makuhari Messe – Japan’s largest gaming venue – wrapped up after just four days, with the final day scrapped because of an approaching typhoon. The show felt more like a nostalgic museum than a crystal ball, offering only faint hints about where the industry might head. The gaming sector is currently in a state of transition.
While the Nintendo Switch 2’s strong launch and the continued rise of PC gaming have helped mask underlying challenges, especially in Japan where those platforms dominate recent growth, the overall picture remains unsettled. Last year’s TGS was dominated by free‑to‑play and mobile titles, a trend that was less visible this time, partly due to the noticeable absence of Chinese developers amid rising political tensions. Still, the event struggled to articulate a clear vision for the future, as many of its highlights were anchored in familiar, legacy properties.
At Sega’s booth, the most eye‑catching attraction was not a brand‑new IP like "Stranger Than Heaven" from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios, but the upcoming remake of "Persona 4 Golden." The space was constantly alive with DJs, cosplay performers, and a demo that quickly became the most visited attraction. Square Enix, on the other hand, presented only two titles: the concluding chapter of the "Final Fantasy VII" remake saga, which dominated the booth with images of Meteor and Sephiroth, and "Final Fantasy Resonance," an HD‑2D experiment that featured characters from across the series’ long history. Capcom’s area was largely devoted to demo kiosks for the new "Monster Hunter Wilds" expansion, yet it also showcased Switch 2 ports of classic survival‑horror entries – "Resident Evil 2," "3," and "4" – alongside a fresh "Mega Man" title. Among the major developers, only Bandai Namco and Konami unveiled truly new projects.
Bandai Namco displayed a new "Gundam" game flanked by anime tie‑ins and "Ace Combat 8," while Konami surprised visitors with a reimagined "Castlevania" in a radically different visual style, plus non‑playable previews of fresh IPs such as "Rhapsody in Scarlet" and "Rev:Noir," as well as a teaser for "Silent Hill Townfall." Several factors explain why the show leaned heavily on established franchises. TGS takes place in September, a month that traditionally sees a flood of new releases as publishers try to avoid direct competition with the highly anticipated "Grand Theft Auto VI" slated for November.
Even without playable demos, the event attracted crowds to a Netflix showcase presented in an immersive haptic‑enhanced theater, a draw amplified by the giveaway of a GTA‑themed PlayStation t‑shirt for attendees. While these attractions provided short‑term buzz, they offered little insight into what the next three decades of gaming might look like. The one technology that repeatedly surfaced as a potential game‑changer was generative AI. Developers tout AI as a tool that can speed up coding, generate concept art, and produce assets at a fraction of traditional costs.
Critics, however, warn that the same efficiency could lead to layoffs and a dilution of human creativity. Players have voiced strong preferences for handcrafted experiences and have pushed back against the idea of AI‑generated content replacing human designers. Additionally, rising hardware prices threaten to turn gaming from a widely accessible pastime into a luxury hobby. If any concrete glimpse of the future appeared on the TGS floor, it was in the AI‑centric exhibits.
The "Selected Indie 80" – a curated selection of indie titles granted free demo space – was pushed out of the main hall and relocated to a peripheral corridor, making way for an AI technology pavilion. This pavilion featured companies offering AI‑driven localization, asset creation, and other services. Ironically, the winning indie entry, "Finding Polka," which also earned accolades at Gamescom and Bitsummit, relied entirely on hand‑drawn sketches for its visuals, underscoring the tension between traditional art and AI tools. Japan’s adoption of generative AI appears higher than in many other regions.
A preliminary summary of the upcoming 2026 Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) report, released to the press on the opening day, indicated that 86 % of Japanese developers reported using some form of AI in their workflow – a sharp rise from 51 % the previous year. Several showcased games either advertised AI‑generated assets or visibly incorporated them into promotional material. Level‑5 serves as a prominent case study.
The studio has been vocal about its AI experiments since 2023, using the technology for concept art and promotional imagery. CEO Akihiro Hino frequently discusses these efforts on social media. However, a recent preview of Level‑5’s upcoming slate drew heavy criticism for its reliance on AI‑generated visuals, including an AI‑rendered avatar of Hino delivering a "talking‑head" introduction and AI‑enhanced trailers for titles such as "Holy Horror Mansion" (a new entry in the "Yokai Watch" franchise) and remakes of "Yokai Watch 2" and "Professor Layton and the Curious Village." The backlash was intense enough that Hino issued a public apology, emphasizing the human craftsmanship behind the TGS booth – which itself had been initially sketched with AI assistance – and promising stricter guidelines for AI usage moving forward. On the exhibition floor, AI influence could be seen in demos for "Holy Horror Mansion" and "Decapolice," though developers asserted that any AI‑generated assets had been stripped from the playable builds.
The episode highlights a broader industry anxiety: while AI can accelerate production, many fear it may erode the artistic soul of games. Amid the AI controversy, another, more optimistic trend emerged: the growing integration of Japan’s traditional multimedia production‑committee model into gaming.
Originating in the 1970s film industry, this system pools resources from diverse partners—ranging from food manufacturers to fashion brands—to share risk and cross‑promote intellectual property across movies, merchandise, and now video games. Companies such as Lawson, a convenience‑store chain, have begun financing games in exchange for exclusive promotional opportunities, mirroring practices long established in cinema.
Sega, for instance, cited Disney as an inspiration for expanding beyond pure game development. The company highlighted recent collaborations that blend "Sonic" with Godzilla, Evangelion, and high‑fashion labels like Balenciaga, as well as Netflix adaptations of upcoming titles "Crazy Taxi" and "Stranger Than Heaven" before those games even hit shelves. Indie publishers are also leveraging the committee model.
Shueisha Games, leveraging its extensive publishing network, aims to fund distinctive projects and then extend successful titles into manga, novels, merchandise, and even alternate‑reality games (ARGs). "Urban Myth Dissolution Center," a top‑selling indie from last year, exemplifies this approach, having spawned manga adaptations, novelizations, and a partnership with Silent Hill for new merchandise and a free browser spin‑off. Other newcomers, like Toei Games and Parco Games, are entering the gaming arena with similar ambitions. Toei, historically a film studio, is using games to cultivate new IPs that can later be adapted into movies, while Parco – a national department‑store chain – has launched an art‑driven indie label, showcasing titles such as "Berlin Apartment" on clothing racks and in store galleries.
In sum, the future of Japanese gaming cannot be read solely from the booths at Makuhari Messe. It will be shaped by how the industry monetises its past, how it harnesses AI tools from global tech giants, and how it weaves games into broader entertainment ecosystems that include film, fashion, and retail. Next year’s TGS hopes to finally deliver a full five‑day schedule without weather interruptions, offering a fresh platform to showcase what the next thirty years of play might hold.
Yet the most decisive forces steering that future are likely unfolding far beyond the exhibition halls, in boardrooms, development studios, and the ever‑evolving relationship between human creativity and machine intelligence.