el Entertainment Game Show se regenera

In video game jargon, the term respawn o Regenerate is used when you respawn in the game or mission where you left off.

The EGS started in 2002 under the name of Electronic Game Show as one of the first events dedicated to video games in Latin America. After 17 years of having been held uninterruptedly in CDMX, two editions in Guadalajara and a couple in Brazil, the EGS is regenerated as Entertainment Game Show.

“In gamer culture respawning is like coming back to life. It does not refer to the fact that in no way the EGS had definitely died after the pandemic, because everything stopped and everything paused”, says Mario Valle, co-founder of the original EGS and Managing Partner of the investment fund Altered States in an interview with The Economist.

The video game ecosystem has evolved and is no longer a world dominated by only consoles. The arrival of games on mobile devices, plataformas on-demandthe virtual realityaugmented reality and e-sports have driven change and maturation in the industry.

That is why the organizers of the EGS also saw the need to regenerate this meeting and embrace the changes that have occurred in the video game industry. The video game industry has diversified and has allowed the entry of independent studios.

“The new times have to do with entertainment, with video games as a category, totally horizontal and massive entertainment and that is why we put Entertainment Game Show,” said Valle.

The 2022 edition of the EGS will take place from November 4 to 6 at the World Trade Center in Mexico City (WTC). There will be space for attendees to play video games made by independent studios from Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Denmark, Belgium, France, United Kingdom and titles such as The Eternal Castle, We Took That Trip, No Place For Bravery, Crab Mania, Koatl the defender (developed in Mexico and Costa Rica), Dark Tales from México, México 1921 a deep slumber (developed in Mexico), among others.

Although the EGS started closely tied to the big releases of the three big consoles —Playstation, XBox y Nintendo—, in this new stage it seeks to bring the spotlight to video game developers in the world and above all to know the talent that exists in Mexico and Latin America.

“Latin America has between 10 and 15 years shown its muscle at the consumer level, we are good consumers of technology, but the truth is that we are a little behind in terms of showing the world that Latin America also has developer muscle. He also has the muscle of talent and that is precisely an element that we are going to push a lot in this 20th edition of the EGS”, said Mario Valle.

The corridors of the World Trade Center will have spaces to experience video games with virtual reality (VR), there will be esports competitions from Halo Infinite, Dragon Ball Z Fighterz, Fortnite, Smash Brothers, Splatoon, E-Football, Pokémon Gocosplay contests and an Arcade area for nostalgic gamers who want to relive the times of the slot machines.

The 2022 edition of the EGS will feature the presence of various characters in different fields in the video game industry. One of the strong cards will be a virtual conversation with the video game designer John Romerowho has developed more than 100 video games including two of the first-person shooters most iconic of all time: Wolfenstein y Doom.

There will be talks with Tony Harmanfounder of Random Games, Leonard Menchiarideveloper of The Eternal CastleJoss Monzoni, creative director of Massless, a British company focused on the development of video games with blockchain and a tribute to the magazine Club Nintendo.

The Entertainment Game Show (EGS) will take place from November 4 to 6 at the World Trade Center (WTC) in Mexico City. The organizers of the event expect to receive more than 30,000 people in person and more than 200,000 online during the three days of activities. After putting a brief pause, the EGS presses the start button again. Continue to continue playing.

antonio.becerril@eleconomista.mx