2022 Taipei Game Show opens while limiting capacity

Taipei, Jan. 22 (CNA) The 2022 Taipei Game Show opened on Saturday as one of the first major gaming events in the world held this year, with the number of in-person attendees limited to a maximum of 7,000 people at any given time in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year's show, themed "Gaming Forward," represents the gaming community's undiminished enthusiasm despite the COVID-19 situation, said Paul SL Peng (彭双浪), chairman of Taipei Computer Association (TCA), at the opening press conference of the show, held Jan. 22-25 at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center.

As part of the coronavirus prevention measures, four ultraviolet-emitting disinfection robots will disinfect the premises every night, Peng said.

"We hope this event will be held under the highest possible disease prevention specifications," Peng said.

Only 6,000-7,000 people will be allowed to enter the show venue at any given time, following on from similar regulations last year, according to the TCA. Over 80,000 people visited the show last year, according to TCA data.

As for the show this year, a total of 185 developers and publishers from around 20 countries are taking part, either online or at the exhibition site itself, Peng said.

One of the games highlighted at the show is "The Legend of TianDing," a locally developed side-scrolling action game based on the historical Taiwanese folk hero Liao Tien-ting (廖添丁) who, legend has it, robbed from the rich and gave to the poor during Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan.

The game won three prizes -- a gold for the Taiwanese developed games category, and honorable mentions for the Console Game and PC Game categories, respectively -- at the 2021 Game Star awards, an online gaming award platform organized by the TCA.

PP Wang (王峻偉), CEO of Creative Games & Computer Graphics Corp., the developer of "The Legend of TianDing," told CNA his team is very happy to win the awards and hopes more local Taiwanese stories can be shown on the international stage.

"We put in a lot of the Hoklo dialect and local historical people from the Japanese colonial period into the storyline," Wang said.

Maso Lin (林秉舒), Creative Games & Computer Graphics Corp. R&D Producer, told CNA his team feels there should be more games that tell Taiwanese stories on the market.

"It is a big encouragement for us, because we won the prizes from making a game that tells a Taiwanese story," Lin said.

Chen Pei-li (陳佩利), Industrial Development Bureau Deputy Director-General under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said gaming in Taiwan is flourishing as the country's gaming community numbers 15 million people, while the market generated an output value of NT$68 billion (US$2.454 billion) in 2021.

"Consumption power in the Taiwan market is pretty good and our culture allows the acceptance of diverse ways of life, allowing Taiwan to play an important role in experimental game development in Asia," Chen said.

The four-day 2022 Taipei Game Show will run until Tuesday.