We chat with the ChinaJoy team to talk about the event and what attendees can expect later this month. ChinaJoy, combined with multiple conference events within the main event, is the largest game industry event in China. Hosted at the Shanghai New International Expo Center and nearby Kerry Hotel, you don’t want to miss this event if you are traveling to Asia this month!
E4G: ChinaJoy is one of the world’s biggest gaming events that combines multiple events (ChinaJoy, CGDC, CGBC, etc). What are the key areas that new attendees would be interested in discovering at each?
ChinaJoy: As has already been stated, ChinaJoy and its conferences like CGDC and CGBC have achieved great success. In order to continue to maintain this leading position, we always focus on the latest trends of the game industry and accordingly adjust ChinaJoy and related conferences at a moment’s notice to ensure that our exhibitions and conferences can fully keep up the development pace of the industry.
For example, according to the development of the mobile Internet and its impact on the game industry, we have made “Games Composing Your Dream, Mobility Inspiring Future Vision”” the theme of ChinaJoy 2013. Both the exhibitions and the conferences like CGBC and CGDC increase the proportion dedicated to mobile games and relevant topics. In addition, we have also upgraded the China Mobile Entertainment Development Forum of ChinaJoy into an independent event called World Mobile Game Conference (WMGC), making WMGC a comprehensive game forum with special attention to mobile games. This event also includes one- day conference and two-day exhibition and is held simultaneously with ChinaJoy.
E4G: How do you see ChinaJoy in comparison to U.S. events like GDC as a conference, and E3 Expo as the more public media oriented event?
ChinaJoy: The major difference of ChinaJoy from GDC and E3 is that ChinaJoy is a comprehensive forum of the gaming industry rather than concentrating on a single game exhibition or conference but brings the game exhibition (ChinaJoy expo), China Game Business Conference (CGBC) and China Game Developers Conference (CGDC) together into a multiple event. The ChinaJoy expo now includes two parts: the B TO C Area for gamers and the B TO B Area for businesses.
The United States is center of the world’s gaming technology, and the GDC which was held there is the world’s top game developers’ conference. While the China Game Developers Conference (CGDC), which is held in conjunction with ChinaJoy, has made “Set foothold in China, connect the world and promote technology exchange and progress” its mission statement. Therefore, compared with GDC, CGDC involves more Chinese elements, such as the exchange of staff’s experience in game production. CGDC places communication with global game developers as a top priority, so we can now see that there are an increasing number of game developers from the United States, Japan, Korea and other countries to share their experience on CGDC.
E3 was once the world’s most famous game exhibition. In recent years, it has focused more on the game professionals’ participation. At this stage, it’s very similar to ChinaJoy’s B TO B Area; however, ChinaJoy’s B TO C Area is of a much larger scale, a wider range of participants and more visitors.
E4G: Events that have run for several years have quite a history behind them, even in a newer industry like games. What is ChinaJoy’s history?
ChinaJoy: The ChinaJoy expo has developed over a decade since its debut in 2004. It has witnessed the complete development process of the Chinese game industry to evolve from agent operations to independent R&D and finally to participation within the global market. Along with the rapid development of the Chinese game industry, the physical floor space of the ChinaJoy expo has also grown from the initial 10,000 square meters to the current 70,000 square meters, and the expo has also expanded from a single B TO C Area at the beginning into a comprehensive exhibition we see now, including both the B TO B Area and B TO C Area.
The B TO B Area is now more comprehensive and much more varied in terms of exhibition activities. Visitors and professionals from around the world have regarded ChinaJoy as a global annual industry event which is a must to attend. Every year, ChinaJoy attracts more than 400 exhibitors and over 200,000 visitors, including more than 20,000 trade visitors and thousands of journalists.
E4G: The Chinese game industry is exploding in growth with events like ChinaJoy becoming more and more prominent. Where do you see ChinaJoy in five years?
ChinaJoy: The event organizers are working hard to improve the business functions of ChinaJoy and to expand its coverage to various industries. Along with the restructuring and development of the global game industry, ChinaJoy will also correspondingly adjust the contents and forms of its activities to fulfill the needs of enterprises. For example, the World Mobile Games Conference (WMGC) held during this year’s ChinaJoy is a brand new conference which was created to meet the current industry’s trends, in order to better serve the global mobile game industry and professionals. Over the next five years, ChinaJoy shall continue its rapid development while constantly adjusting itself to fully meet the needs of the industry and professionals.
E4G: Speaking of traditions and history, we were looking at the Golden Plume Awards page. Can you tell us more about this award show and other events one can expect to see when attending ChinaJoy?
ChinaJoy: As the Chinese game industry’s most influential, oldest official award, the Golden Plume Award has been awarded over the past decade. Its most noteworthy feature is that the award winners are selected by gamers’ votes. Every year, millions of game enthusiasts all over China vote for the winners. Therefore, the award has become the most coveted award for all game developers across China. The selection of the award winners starts in the second half of every year, and the award ceremony is held in Beijing at the end of the year.
At the ChinaJoy venue every year, in addition to the exhibitions and conferences, there are also many interesting and exciting activities which visitors can take part in, such as the world’s largest Cosplay contest – ChinaJoy Cosplay Carnival, IEM, VGL, etc. For B TO B Area visitors, this year’s WMGC and the publication of the White Paper of Global Mobile Game Industry will undoubtedly be the highlights of ChinaJoy 2013.
E4G: What keynote speakers and celebrity guests can attendees expect to see at this year’s event?
ChinaJoy:
- Mr. Xiangdong Zhang, Chief Executive Officer，Shanda Games Limited
- Mr. Greg Street, Lead Systems Designer, Blizzard Entertainment
- Mr. Dewen Chen, President, Changyou.com Limited
- Mr. Joe WU , CEO of 91 Mobile, CFO of NetDragon
- Mr. Edward Cheng, Vice President, Tencent
- Mr. Wang Yi, VP, Netease
- Mr. Xuefeng Ji, President Shanghai Giant Network Technology Co., Ltd.
- Mr. Dazhong Zhang, Vice President of Shanghai Media Group
- Mr. Hao Liu, General Manager, China Mobile Game Service Center
- Ms. Xin Wei, General Manager, China Unicom WoStore
- Mr. Peng Zhang,General Manager, China Telecom Game Operations Base
- Mr. Peter Tseng, Vice President, General Manager Greater China, Electronic Arts Computer Software (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
- Mr. Mike Ryder, Vice President and Executive Managing Director, International Operations, Blizzard Entertainment Inc.
- Mr. Chris Shen, VP, The9 Ltd.
- Mr. Tao Zou, Senior Vice President of Kingsoft Corporation Limited and CEO of Westhouse Corporation Limited
- Mr. Keith Shepherd, Chief Producer of Temple Run, Imangi Studio
- Mr.John Vechey,Founder of Popcap
- Mr. Haozhi Chen, CEO, Beijing Chukong Technology Co., Ltd.
- Mr. Chris Whiteside , Studio Design Director, Global Business, ArenaNet, Inc.
E4G: For those hoping to attend from overseas, what are the best airlines and hotels they should book?
ChinaJoy: We have a list of recommend hotels for those who plan to attend ChinaJoy and related conferences. For details, please visit the site: http://btocen.chinajoy.net/zn_Hotel.aspx
E4G: Anything else you would like to share about ChinaJoy and the local game industry?
ChinaJoy: The influence of ChinaJoy on the global game industry comes from ChinaJoy’s own activities and the participation of global industry members. Every year, major game companies and related industrial institutions from all over the world organize dozens of their own social and promotional activities during the ChinaJoy expo. Every year, more than US$100 million worth of orders are generated through business negotiations and talks at ChinaJoy’s B TO B Area. Therefore, the success of ChinaJoy comes from the combined efforts of the global game industry and its members. As the organizers, we are very grateful to all the industry members for their support and participation.
E4G: Thanks ChinaJoy team for sitting down with us to chat about the upcoming event!
– Interview by Jessee Boullion
