There are game conventions and then there is ChinaJoy. When our friends over at Chinese Gaming Site 17173.com asked us our thoughts on the convention, we barely had to pause in our answer because ChinaJoy, like G-STAR as well, have really become the East's biggest shows and often hold surprises just the same as the Western conferences. I mean, Planetside 2's Death is No Excuse trailer was debuted at ChinaJoy. Shanghai’s massive super show that highlights all of the game companies in the Eastern market. There are some great things about ChinaJoy that a lot of Western players may not realize. It is definitely a business show which allows Western and Eastern development teams to meet and discuss the future of games in a completely different culture. There are also a lot of companies that develop games overseas get to work on bringing them to the Western market. China represents the biggest gaming market on the planet right now. With so many people playing and somany different games online, it is no wonder that ChinaJoy can be called a SuperShow.
Last month in a Forbes article China’s online game market was predicted to explode into the $6.1 bln range for this year. That means major cash for studios and publishers. This market now becomes a place that MMO developers have to take very seriously. Companies on both sides of the Pacific are looking back and forth at the growth of the Chinese market and how important it is to get your game there.
Even more recently Vivendi mentioned it would consider selling its stake in Activision Blizzard. If you look at the list of buyers that would be interested in buying the $7.1 bln stake, a lot of them are from overseas: Nexon, Tencent, and Perfect World among them.

So, ChinaJoy really has become one of the major business and gaming conventions around the world. If you don’t take a serious look at the convention you are missing something. Oh yes, there are endless booth babes as well. Did we mention that? All kidding aside, this show is a major force in the MMO market. As we even look to plan MMORPG.com’s schedule for 2013, we have to seriously consider ChinaJoy and GSTAR at this point as possible convention stops. ChinaJoy is also smart running their shows for both business and consumers. Something that Gamescom does very well. It is a lesson that E3 should take seriously and open up the show to gamers as well as business folks.
Keep an eye this week on news from ChinaJoy. It is a critical show for all of us at this point. Who knows the next big deals or ideas maybe coming out of Shanghai this week?