As soon as it opened at 8:30 a.m., the first visitors, mostly teenagers, rushed to the stands of the various publishers (Ubisoft, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Sega, etc.) to test the new products for the end of the year.
Like Tiago, 10, dressed in a Pikachu costume for his first visit to Paris Games Week, left directly with his big brother Alexis, 12, to try “Just Dance 2023”, under the gaze benevolent of their parents, Jeremy and Irène Serra.
“We came from Aveyron, we took the train to spend four days in Paris and stay at the show until Saturday,” they told AFP.
“Just Dance is a game a little apart where you can dance (in real life) with other people. It’s more fun than alone behind your screen”, they add.
While the health crisis has pushed publishers to increasingly unveil their next games at their own online events, visitors to this “restart” edition insist on the need to share their “IRL” passion, in the real life (“in real life”).
“I attach great importance to coming to trade fairs, for the atmosphere of physical conventions. I meet people, but also YouTubers or TikTokeurs known in real life”, says “Weeaboo”, a 20-year-old girl who prefers being called by his nickname on social networks.
Dressed in pink from head to toe like Kirby, a character from the Nintendo universe, her arrival is also motivated to attend parades and “cosplay” contests, the activity consisting of dressing up as pop characters. -culture.
– 180,000 visitors expected –
Disturbed by the health crisis, the world’s largest trade fairs in the sector are making a comeback, like the E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) in Los Angeles, canceled in 2022, which will make a comeback in June 2023.
The organizers of Paris Games Week are aiming for around 180,000 visitors at Porte de Versailles for this 2022 edition, while the influx was around 300,000 visitors before the pandemic, but in a larger format.
A sign of the importance of the event, the three major manufacturers of video game consoles, Microsoft (Xbox), Sony (PlayStation) and Nintendo (Switch), are meeting for the first time in more than three years in the same show. .
“It’s important to be there in person to be able to have direct contact with our audience, and offer them experiences with their hands on the controller”, underlines to AFP Ina Gelbert, director Xbox France, the video game branch from Microsoft.
“Since the launch of the consoles [new generations two years ago], we had not had the opportunity to make them available to fans at shows. This is the first time that we can do it”, she adds.
Distributors such as Fnac and social network giants such as TikTok are also on hand, as are more than a hundred exhibitors.
“When we think of gaming, we think of digital, but it’s also important to have our community physically present in order to be able to exchange with it”, adds Omba Kamangongo, TikTok’s “gaming” manager for France, Belgium and Europe. from South.
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 Syndicate of Leisure Software Publishers (Sell).
