The 2025 Tokyo Game Show (TGS) set new records in both attendance and exhibition scale, marking a clear shift from a consumer showcase to a business-focused platform. Taiwanese gaming hardware and content companies were prominently present, with top executives leading efforts to secure cross-border partnerships.
Japan continues to serve as the cultural and commercial hub of global gaming, home to franchises that pioneered monetization models from subscriptions and premium purchases to peripheral ecosystems. Attendance trends underscored the shift: public days slipped to 156,000, down 30,000 from 2024, but business days surged to a record 107,000, highlighting investor appetite and industry confidence.
AI gaming hardware in focus
Beyond headline IPs, exhibitors pointed to artificial intelligence (AI) as the new competitive battleground. Developers emphasized relentless innovation in storytelling, while hardware vendors showcased next-generation devices to meet player expectations for speed, responsiveness, and mobility. Portable consoles, gaming PCs, and notebooks remained central, joined by immersive technologies such as eye tracking, motion sensing, and advanced haptics.
A survey of 54 Japanese studios revealed that 51% already use AI or generative AI in development; most often for character imagery and design, but increasingly for narratives and coding. Such adoption signals that AI-powered gaming PCs, notebooks, and handhelds may soon dominate trade show agendas.
VR and AR on the horizon
Independent studios are looking to virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) as the next frontier over the coming three to five years. As device prices decline, adoption is expected to spread across gaming and training applications such as flight or rail simulation. While VR and AR hardware still lack killer features and need refinement, developers see them as long-term bets.
Taiwanese publishers — Softstar Entertainment, Soft-World International Corp., and Cayenne Entertainment Technology — sent senior leaders to Tokyo to pursue partnerships in this emerging space.
China's gaming boom
The gaming revival extends beyond Japan. The China Gaming Industry Report shows mainland revenue hitting CNY168 billion (approx. US$23.5 billion) in the first half of 2025, up 14.08% year-over-year, with the gamer base climbing to nearly 679 million, both record highs.
This momentum has reignited enthusiasm across esports, creating fresh revenue streams for component suppliers and console makers. As AI and immersive technologies reshape the industry, hardware vendors and content studios are in a race to secure their place in gaming's next chapter.
Article edited by Jack Wu
