The COVID outbreak did a number on the world and many industries were impacted to varying degrees. The gaming world was no different as it was the cause of many delays as well as cancelation of major events such as E3. Some conventions decided to take a digital-only approach, as was the case with the Tokyo Game Show 2020, which just wrapped up. The move was one that also seemed to pay off, at least in the case of views.
As reported by Famitsu, when totaling up the amount of views from all major sources it broke over 31 million views (31.6 to be more precise). For comparison, last year’s show saw 16.5 million views. Of course, it’s hard to compare since last year’s show also had a live component while 2020’s didn’t, and this is the year of next generation console launches which will obviously drive extra traffic from those starved for any and all info.
Tokyo Game Show 2021 is also confirmed to be happening next year from September 30th to October 3rd. As it stands, we don’t know if the event will have to go digital only or not, though hopefully the COVID situation will be more under control by then.