REEF Entertainment attends EGX 2022!
EGX 2022 Blog Post
Reef Entertainment were lucky enough to attend EGX 2022, courtesy of Reedpop.
Thursday 22nd Sept 2022,
Me and my fantastic colleague Don arrived at the event a good bit of time before official opening at 10am. Coffees in tow, and excitement for the show was palpable. Lines, at this time larger for the “StarCoffee” chain than the show were essential for all attendees before heading on in. There we met a couple who were excited for some Sonic! – is this the year for the blue blur once again!?! (Our Frontiers demo later in the day…says maybe!)
Seeing the crowds and fans back at gaming events, along with the industry vets…great to see, and that isn’t even mentioning the great outfits (cosplay) on display, adding greatly to the mise en scene.
The weather held up really well (after a long, hot summer, the surprises keep coming to the UK, given how we’ve been steam rolled into winter now!!), so we already had a spring in our step, and that continued throughout the day.
Just before heading in we bumped into a ReedPop staff member, who we had the pleasure of talking with later in the day, looking to join work together at another point, which will be great!
Entering the Excel Centre, there was the buzz and excitement that is always felt at gaming events, with all eyes on the new, and revisiting classics via tournaments, merchandise or in the example of Nintendo a plethora of plenty of set ups with their most recent titles on display.
The event was very well organised, with staff being incredibly kind, and attentive to everyone there.
Great stands full of indie titles, triple AAA publishers coming out (such as Capcom and Sega), along with many merchandise stands for fans of all things gaming, anime and the like!
It wouldn’t be a gaming convention without the obligatory free hand outs of energy drink (plenty of interesting flavours to fuel the day)…and the queues being comparable to some of the bigger titles!
We talked to a variety of independent developers, some only just out of university! Was great talking with them, and seeing a variety of upcoming talent. Our team is committed to bringing more interesting and unique titles into the hands of people everywhere, so this was a really good opportunity to see the talented individuals making great projects all over the UK.
With our focus as a team on Japanese titles as well, both with distribution and publishing here in the UK, it was really good to see that there were plenty of Japanese companies showing their wares at the event (Capcom, Sega and our good friends at Koei Tecmo too).
Wo Long, and Street Fighter 6 had consistent queues, showing the fervour for games from Japanese companies – as well as showing long running franchises, in the case of Street Fighter 6, still appealing to a very wide fan base.
Our team attended “A SPEEDRUN THROUGH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS” talk which was hosted incredibly well, with industry veterans really helping the wider game development community, along with gamers, to understand the importance of copyright.
Merchandise, which really ran the gauntlet of everything from gaming, anime, films and beyond - was on display. There was lots of people clamouring for items based on their favourite properties en-mass!
Reef specialises in a lot of fantastic Limited Edition’s, along with merchandise that goes alongside our partners titles, that we feel would work fantastically well in this environment. Bringing something to the show in future would be fantastic for fans and our business alike. We feel our products would complement this already fantastic show.
One of the biggest takeaways from the show was the diversity of titles on display, a dedicated retro area, also showing that people are excited to delve into the past to face new adversaries (friends and new friends alike).
ReedPop really put on a fantastic show with incredibly well thought out layout choices, to give everyone, from every gaming walk of life something to talk about and be excited for.
Whether it was new, old, or leaning into new technologies like VR there was something there for everyone.
Game Highlights
Indie Titles: Uso
AAA: Street Fighter 6
Retro Area shout outs: Wave Race (Gamecube), Joust and Mario 64.
Closing thoughts
Our team was incredibly grateful to come down and experience the event, courtesy of the kind people at ReedPop.
Both the public, press and industry had plenty of smiles on their faces, and everyone at the show made the whole experience inclusive, and an incredibly fun and welcoming place to be.
Thank you everyone involved for making a very impressive and interesting show. There was lots to do and watch for everyone who attended, and to that we say it was a giant success.
