The Tokyo Game Show 2025 will take place from September 25 to 28 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, with six video game development companies from Emilia-Romagna participating in the Italian Pavilion organized by ICE — the Agency for the Promotion Abroad and Internationalization of Italian Companies (ICE) under the Ministry of Economic Development (MIMIT), in collaboration with IIDEA—the Italian Interactive Digital Entertainment Association: Dreambits Studio Srl, Green Flamingo Soc.Coop., More Games Studio by Matteo Manicone, Funny Tales Srl, Melazeta Srl, and Italian Games Factory Srl.

For the Emilia Romagna game development companies, the Tokyo Game Show is an important opportunity to meet with potential investors and video game publishers. For this reason, the Emilia Romagna Region and the City of Bologna, as part of their broad collaboration to support the region’s cultural and creative industries, have decided to provide financial support for the participation of companies from Emilia Romagna in the event.

Specifically, the Emilia-Romagna Region’s Department of Attractiveness, Internationalization, and Research covered the costs of participating in the trade show for regional companies that are part of the Italian collective selected by ICE. The Culture and Creativity Division of the City of Bologna covered travel costs for companies that had already won the Bologna Game Farm competition, as they were also part of the Italian collective: Dreambits Studio Srl and Green Flamingo Soc.coop.

The Tokyo Game Show has shown a steady growth trend and, in 2024, attracted over 270,000 visitors (compared to approximately 250,000 in 2023), featuring a large number of booths, publishers, and international exhibitors.

This is the most important event in Asia for the video game industry.

Emilia-Romagna ranks second among Italian regions in terms of the number of video game development studios, thanks to the presence of the public accelerator Bologna Game Farm—now in its fourth year—and a rapidly developing gaming ecosystem.

Bologna Game Farm is a B2C video game accelerator sponsored by the Emilia-Romagna Region and the City of Bologna that selects and supports emerging video game projects; the winners of the call for proposals receive resources, mentoring, and opportunities for international visibility.

Events such as Gamescom, First Playable, and the Tokyo Game Show are the next step in the acceleration process carried out with mentors: they serve to test the market and meet publishers and partners. For the studios that won the BGF call for proposals, the Tokyo Game Show provides an opportunity to strengthen relationships with foreign publishers, establish contacts for localization and distribution in Asia, and showcase their product to a massive audience.

Participation in TGS marks a decisive step for the studios supported by the Bologna Game Farm acceleration program, which—thanks to the support of the Emilia-Romagna Region and the City of Bologna—can now engage with a global audience, particularly in an increasingly strategic market like Asia.

This milestone demonstrates how investment in regional creativity and innovation in video games can translate into concrete opportunities for international growth.