The stars of G-Star 2024: Hard games and long lines

The G-Star 2024 gaming convention in Busan saw massive crowds and long wait times for highly anticipated game demos from major publishers.

Krafton's booth at the G-Star 2024 [CHO YONG-JUN]

BUSAN — Despite the security guards gesturing wildly, desperately shouting “Please don’t run,” thousands of gamers sprinted uncontrollably towards their favorite booths at Busan's Bexco center as second the clock struck 11 a.m., marking the start of the four-day G-Star 2024, Korea's largest gaming convention.

The frenzied gamers' excuse: wait times. Unreleased games, displayed at various booths around the show floor, operated on a first come, first serve basis. In less than an hour, queues were already 30 minutes to an hour long. By midday, attendees were waiting over two and a half hours for a 30-minute demo of Pearl Abyss's highly anticipated Crimson Desert; many of Krafton's demos had closed their lines due to overwhelming demand.

“I had to wait an hour each to play the two Nexon games, and now I just want to sit down for a break,” gamer Lee Young-suk, who had traveled from Changwon, South Gyeongsang, for the show's opening day, told the Korea JoongAng Daily. Lee had to wait outside for 30 minutes before he could even enter the venue.

G-Star 2024 kicked off Thursday at Bexco, Busan [CHO YONG-JUN]

The 20th edition of G-Star, which kicked off on Thursday, featured a record 3,359 booths. Global publishers including Nexon, Netmarble, Krafton, Pearl Abyss and Lionheart Studio showcased upcoming Triple-A titles. Leading developer NCsoft, currently embroiled in layoffs and a major restructuring, was notably absent from the show floor, appearing only with a business booth.

Nexon's booth at the G-Star 2024 [CHO YONG-JUN]

Nexon, the show's main sponsor, boasted the largest booth with five unreleased games available to play: Supervibe, a MOBA and battle royale crossover game developed by Theorycraft games; role-playing action game The First Berserker: Khazan, based on the Dungeon & Fighter franchise; Project Overkill; and Gensei Online.

Khazan appeared to frustrate both reporters and fans on the floor, who complained that they kept dying.

Game Over screen for The First Berserker: Khazan [CHO YONG-JUN]

“Many players found it too challenging,” game director Yun Myoeng-jin admitted to reporters, adding that a “slightly easier” mode is in development — despite its X account having implied in March that such an easy mode might not exist.

“We are also aware of the overseas community who said we should never make it easier,” Yun said. “So we are still in for a bit of development.”

Pearl Abyss showcased its upcoming open-world action adventure game Crimson Desert, which showcased exceptional graphics and gameplay, albeit with a bit of a learning curve.

[CHO YONG-JUN]

Krafton, the publisher behind PUBG: Battlegrounds, brought InZOI — a realistic “life-simulation” game — and new top-down tactical shooter Project ARC.

Many gamers used to classic shooters such as CS:GO and Rainbow Six: Siege, were able to adjust to Project ARC's rather unusual viewpoint thanks to other similarities in gameplay.

Netmarble's star of the show was Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, an open-world action RPG based on the hit drama series of the same name.

The game is based on the later episodes of season 4 of the "Game of Thrones," according to the producer.

The game was available to play in both Windows and Mac environments. Game of Thrones, currently at 70 percent in terms of the development phase according to the producer, will first be launched in the western market before hitting the local market.

A gamer plays Krafton's Project ARC at the G-Star 2024 [CHO YONG-JUN]

This year’s G-Star celebrated its official opening at 10 a.m., one hour ahead of general admission. Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, alongside Nexon Korea Co-CEO Kim Jung-wook, Netmarble CEO Kwon Young-sik, HYBE IM President Chung Woo-young and Krafton CEO and Director Yun Sang-hun attended the opening ceremony, with President Yoon Suk Yeol sending a congratulatory video message.

“Gaming has become a major pastime, enjoyed by 63 percent of the [Korean] population, and it has contributed to solving social issues, including expansion into other categories like education, training and therapy,” Yoon said in a video message.

“The government will support in creating a fair playing ground and put further efforts into protecting gamers’ rights.”

Lee stayed at the G-Star venue for the entire day but spent most of it waiting in lines, and ended up playing only five games: Khazan, Supervibe, Gensei Online, Cookie Run and Gravity's Ragnarok 3. “It just wasn't worth the hype I had hoped for,” he said, complaining that HoYoverse, publisher of Genshin Impact, hadn't attended.

That said, “It's not that any of the games were bad,” he added. “They were all very fun."

Visitors at Krafton and Google Play’s booth [CHO YONG-JUN]

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]