The inaugural Gamestart Asia, a consumer-oriented gaming convention, was held over the last weekend, and boy, was it awesome. With more than 12,000 visitors checking out a cool 24 exhibits and tons of game demos that typically never make it beyond closed-door media sessions in Singapore or far-away game cons overseas, there’s no denying that Gamestart Asia has managed to brand itself as a proper game show for the Southeast Asia Region.
In an interview with Games in Asia last week, convention organizer Elicia Lee shared that Singapore’s track record with gaming conventions actually put Gamestart in a tough spot when it came to pitching to sponsors and exhibitors. Burnt several times by poorly-organized conventions, they were initially unwilling to take a chance on this unproven event.
Here’s a look at gaming conventions held in Singapore through the years.
See: Gamestart Asia convention wants to kickstart Southeast Asia’s gaming industry
Campus Game Fest
Campus Game Fest is so named because it is organized within the grounds of a school campus. Although branded a gaming con, it works more on a grassroots level, pulling in community leaders and small, locally-organized gaming competitions. Campus Game Fest is in its second year, and while definitely fun for people who enjoy mingling in the local game communities, it’s nothing spectacular. Its school campus venue, lack of big name exhibitors or participants, and an absence of impressive booths make it look like little more than a cheaply organized student fair (It’s not supposed to be one!).
Campus Game Fest is organized by the Singapore Cyberports Online Gaming Association (SCOGA), the Institute of Technical Education, People’s Association Youth Movement (PAYM, also the youth arm of Singapore’s ruling political party), the Cyber Athlete Professional League (CPL), and Wolong Ventures.
Verdict: Awful.
Singapore Game Fest
Singapore Game Fest was very ambitious in its only and inaugural event in 2010. (Full disclaimer: I helped organize it as a part of SCOGA.) It was supposed to be a companion event with Dreamhack Winter, a LAN party on a gigantic scale, and mimicked its itinerary as well. While entry was free, you could also pay to stay in the hall with your desktop computer for the full four days and three nights the con ran. Since the hall was always open, participating organizers were able to organize competitions and events even at odd hours of the night. It was fun, but ultimately, also financially unsustainable. It also had little game content apart from numerous competitions.
The Game Fest branding was later turned into Campus Game Fest by organizer SCOGA. The PAYM was also involved in Singapore Game Fest, hosting a huge eSports tournament called the Epic Gaming Convention.
Verdict: Alright.
The Games Xpo (TGX)
The Games Xpo ran for several years before finally shutting its doors after its 2012 event in Singapore. Although there was a 2013 iteration of the con in Thailand, it hasn’t been back to the little red dot. The Games Xpo, though sold primarily as a gaming convention, was better known for its World and Asian Cyber Games component of the show. The eSports segment of TGX was definitely better produced and more pronounced, with the gaming part of it limited to mostly shell booths and a very diverse mix of exhibitors.
The Games Xpo was organized by Rapture Gaming Network, once known for its production value in eSports tournaments. Once based in Singapore, Rapture seems to have now shifted base – and target audience – to Vietnam.
Verdict: Alright.
Licence2Play
Licence2Play has a long and storied history. Originally launched in 2009 with great content, it steadily improved with each year until 2012. 2012 was Licence2Play’s best year yet, and featured not just huge booths from publishers like Cherry Credits, Asiasoft, and Blizzard Entertainment, but also saw two exclusive game launches and a whole tank on display from Wargaming Asia. However, attendance for the 2012 show was dismal to say the least, not just due to a lack of publicity but also because of location. The con was tucked away in the bowels of its host expo centre.
To put it simply, the 2012 Licence2Play killed the event, because no gaming companies wanted to sign up for 2013’s. As a result, the 2013 convention, though held in a more centralized venue, had just two eSports arenas to make up its gaming content. The rest of the floorspace was filled with flea market booths selling knock-off handbags and shirts. Needless to say, Licence2Play isn’t happening any more.
Licence2Play was organized by Sphere Exhibits, an events subsidiary wholly-owned by Singapore Press Holdings.
Verdict: Once awesome.
Games Convention Asia (GCA)
Perhaps a convention hosted in Singapore way before the industry was mature enough, Games Convention Asia still holds the title of being the most successful gaming con to date – albeit only in its first year. According to Jasper Mah, who worked at its inaugural event in 2007, GCA took up three halls of Suntec City Convention Centre’s top floor and had both business and consumer content. The following year, the con was more focused on MMORPGs, perhaps according to industry trend. However it was clear GCA was on its last legs in 2009, when it shrank to a single, much smaller hall on the fourth floor of the convention centre. This was despite bringing in speakers like Peter Molyneux from Lionhead Studios.
In 2010, organizer LMI Asia, a subsidiary of Games Convention organizer Leipziger Messe, announced that the con would no longer be held due to low demand.
Verdict: Once awesome.
Gamestart Asia
We’re saving the best for last here. This weekend saw the inaugural Gamestart Asia attract approximately 10,000 visitors. These people came to check out content previously exclusive to overseas events like the Penny Arcade Expo and Tokyo Game Show, and they did not come away disappointed. Best described as a mini Tokyo Game Show, with content curated for the Southeast Asian region, Gamestart Asia had a rough start with all the obstacles and mistrust left behind by previous shows like Licence2Play. Fortunately, it managed to pull off the best game show this country has seen yet.
See: St. Games’ fire: how these two 31-year-olds turned console gaming into an events startup
Gamestart Asia is organized by a mixed team from the games industry in Singapore, and fronted by Eliphant Pte Ltd. The team is headed by Elicia Lee, formerly with EA Games Singapore and now running her own digital marketing agency – Zombits – with an ex-colleague as a co-founder.
Verdict: Awesome.
There you go, a list of the consumer gaming conventions that have been held in Singapore the past few years. Publisher-based conventions like Asiasoft’s Playfest and EA Play were not included for consideration as they were first-party events. If we missed out on anything please let us know. We’ll be happy to update the list.
Singapore gaming conventions ranked from awful to awesome
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