G-Star (G-STAR) 2025, Korea's largest game exhibition now in its 21st year, kicked off on the 13th at the Busan Exhibition & Convention Center (BEXCO) in Haeundae District, Busan. Under the slogan "Expand your horizons," the event is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of game fans over four days through the 16th. This year, participation by Korean game companies has decreased, while overseas game companies have increased, including Blizzard, famous for "StarCraft," joining G-Star for the first time in 12 years.
An opening ceremony was held at 10 a.m. in Exhibition Hall 1 at the Busan Exhibition & Convention Center (BEXCO), with Park Heong-joon, the Busan mayor; Cho Young-ki, G-Star co-chair (head of the Korea Association of Game Industry); Park Byung-moo, NCSOFT co-CEO; and Kim Byung-kyu, Netmarble CEO, in attendance to mark the successful start of G-Star. There were high expectations that President Lee Jae-myung, who pledged policy support for the gaming industry, would become the first sitting president to visit G-Star, but it was ultimately called off, according to reports.
This year's G-Star welcomes fans with 3,269 booths operated by 127 corporations from 44 countries in total. NCSOFT, KRAFTON, Netmarble, WEBZEN, Gravity, and other Korean game companies will showcase new titles and technologies in Exhibition Hall 1 of the general exhibition zone (BTC). Nexon, which won the presidential award at the "Korea Game Awards" the previous day for "Mabinogi Mobile," as well as Kakao Games, Smilegate, Wemade, and Pearl Abyss, did not attend this year.
NCSOFT, serving as G-Star's main sponsor for the first time this year, has set up a supersized exhibition space with 300 booths. NCSOFT will unveil to the public for the first time and offer hands-on demos for its new massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) "Aion 2," slated for release on the 19th of this month. "Aion 2" is a highly anticipated title developed over seven years with more than 300 staff and is the sequel to "Aion," the previous title that ranked No. 1 in nationwide PC café popularity for 160 consecutive weeks in 2017. Having posted its second-ever loss since its founding last year, NCSOFT is going all out on marketing and promotion with the goal of making "Aion 2" a hit. With recent underperformance of new titles pushing NCSOFT down to fourth in revenue among Korean game companies, the company needs "Aion 2" to succeed to seize a chance for a rebound.
NCSOFT will also unveil previously unannounced titles on site at G-Star. Four new games will be available for hands-on demos, including the open-world shooter "Cinder City" under development by subsidiary Bigfire Games, Mistil Games' "Time Takers," and Big Game Studio's "Limit Zero Breakers." In partnership with NVIDIA, the company has equipped all demo PCs with the latest graphics processing unit (GPU), the GeForce RTX 5080, to provide a high-quality experience environment.
Netmarble, a regular G-Star participant, has prepared new titles based on major intellectual property (IP). Netmarble will showcase four new games: the co-op action game "Project Evilbane," the roguelike (a genre where each run is configured differently) "Solo Leveling: KARMA," "The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin," and "MonGil: STAR DIVE." Among them, "Project Evilbane" and "Solo Leveling: KARMA" will be unveiled to the public for the first time worldwide at this year's G-Star. Netmarble has prepared 145 demo stations across 112 booths and will also operate an outdoor booth for the unannounced title "SOL: enchant," reported to be slated for release in the first half of next year.
KRAFTON, participating in G-Star for the ninth consecutive year, will unveil for the first time "Palworld Mobile," a new title under development by KRAFTON's PUBG Studio based on the IP of the global hit "Palworld," developed by Japanese game company Pocketpair. WEBZEN will showcase the subculture title "Gate of Gates," under development by Korean game studio Retrail. It will also debut a cinematic video for its in-house title "Project G" (working title), based on the IP of its flagship series "MU." NEOWIZ will present "SANABI Gaiden: The day of possession."
A hallmark of this year's G-Star is increased participation by overseas game companies compared with last year. In Exhibition Hall 2, global game companies, including Blizzard Entertainment, returning to G-Star for the first time in 12 years, as well as Warhorse Studios, Sega·Atlus, Bandai Namco Entertainment, and Unity, have set up booths with hands-on experiences and various events for fans. Blizzard last offered demos in 2013 for "Heroes of the Storm" and "Hearthstone," and then skipped G-Star starting in 2014.
G-Star Indie Showcase 2.0: Galaxy, a festival for indie game developers, will be held with 400 booths. Steam Deck, Unity, and Discord will participate. Eighty companies from 20 countries will take part in the event.
G-Star has also expanded the scale of its main conference, G-CON. This conference will feature game developers, film directors, and webtoon artists as speakers across 16 sessions. Notable figures include celebrated game designer Horii Yuji, creator of the flagship "Dragon Quest" series of Japan's major game company Square; "NieR: Automata" director Yoko Taro; and director Byun Sung-hyun of the film "Good News."
Cho Young-ki, head of the G-Star organizing committee, said, "G-Star 2025 is more than a simple exhibition; it is a stage where developers from around the world share their own stories," adding, "This year's G-Star will showcase the language of creation, the depth of storytelling, and the power to transform those stories into experiences."