Earlier today, the organizer of G-Star 2018 held a press conference to announce details for the annual exhibition beginning this November. An important question on everyone’s mind was how the empty booths were going to be allocated after Nexon opted out for the first time in 14 years. We got our answers as G-Star announced that Pearl Abyss have swooped in and taken 200 booth slots! The Black Desert developer will be G-Star 2019’s biggest exhibitor. Pearl Abyss did not mention the content it will be showcasing, but we guess other than the various versions of Black Desert, Project K and Project V will at least be teased.
Here are some key highlights of the press conference:
● Pearl Abyss, with 200 booths, is the biggest exhibitor. This is followed by Netmarble, Supercell, and Africa TV with 100 booths each. LG Uplus, cellular carrier owned by LG Corporation, round up the big exhibitor list with 80 booths. It will be showcasing its 5G technology. In case you are wondering, both LG Uplus and LG Electronics are subsidiaries of LG Corporation.
● Diamond sponsor = Supercell, Platinum sponsor = Krafton Union (formerly Bluehole), Gold sponsor = Google Play
● Notable absentees include Nexon, NCsoft, and last year’s global media partner, Twitch.
● While Youtube has a substantial booth size as well, it is there as a general partner, not replacing Twitch as the global media partner.
● Both indoor and outdoor spaces will be utilized to its full capacity, with alternate plans in the works if it happens to rain.
● Apparently the number of overseas companies taking part in G-Star this year has fallen. When asked by the media, the organizers said that the final number has yet to be tallied, and will most likely exceed last year.
● The total booth application is 2,894 booths (1,789 booths for BTC, 1,105 booths for BTB). There are still some booths for the BTB hall. The organizers claimed the BTC slots sold out within the first 2 hours (before Nexon rescinded their booths and dropped out).
● A mobile app for the G-Star exhibition was also recently launched, and the organizers apologized for having it so late. It is still being updated, and the team is facing a challenge to implement the business matchmaking function. The official launch of the app is October, with the Android version now available for pre-download.
● There is a new G-Star Indie Showcase section, and as the name implies, indie developers who pass the selection process will be provided exhibition space and basic facilities.
