Game Industry Trends Analyzed Through Global Game Exhibition G-STAR
This survey/review paper examines how structural change in the game industry was expressed at G-STAR 2025, the representative game exhibition of the Republic of Korea.The study focuses on exhibited titles and the strategic choices of participating companies.Four trends are analyzed: generative artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, cross-platform expansion, intellectual property (IP)-based ecosystem building, and the integration of indie games into publisher-led structures.Unlike prior studies that treat these trends separately or focus on visitor satisfaction, the present study reads the exhibition as a supply-side signal of industrial change.The study combines field observation with industry reports, academic literature, and news coverage.The analysis shows that G-STAR 2025 reflected a defensive industry logic.Participating firms sought to reduce uncertainty through resource reuse, platform extension, and already validated IP.At the same time, the exhibition revealed tensions around AI-related labor restructuring, platform integration, and creative autonomy.The study offers an exhibition-based framework for analyzing game industry trends in an integrated way.
Authors
- Jun‐Ho Huh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6735-6456)
- Minuk Nam (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8438-7000)
Institutions
- Korea Maritime and Ocean University (KR)
- Ocean Energy (Norway) (NO)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of information and communication convergence engineering
- Published
- 2026-06-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.56977/jicce.2026.24.2.175
- Primary Topic
- Digital Games and Media
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00