Korea’s largest gaming expo G-Star will take place from Nov. 18 to 22, this time with an ambition to expand beyond the gaming consumer base and into a larger audience across the content and entertainment sector.
Organized bythe Korea Association of Game Industry (K-Games), the G-Star 2026will once again take place at Busan’s Bexco convention center, overlapping with the College Scholastic Ability Test on Nov. 19.
To improve public appeal and broaden its target audience, AI-assisted story creation platform Crack of Wrtn Technologies has been named the main sponsor of this year’s event. The selection intends to showcase how gaming can be compatible with AI and narrative.
Related Article
-
NCsoft’s game lineup at G-Star 2025 highlights company’s goal to go global
-
G-Star game festival happening in Busan Nov. 13 to 14
-
G-Star 2025 to feature creative powerhouses of Japanese role-playing games
Among the initial lineup disclosed on Thursday are Google Play and game makers Webzen, TEAM42, HoYoverse, NetEase Games, Bilibili Gaming and Century Games. Indie game publishers and platforms that consist the gaming ecosystem, such as Devolver Digital, Discord, Steam Deck and Unity, will also join the event.
Ahead of the G-Star’s official kickoff, the organizer will launch so-called special pass bundled together with merch products designed by cartoonist Lee Dong-geun, whose works include the infamous “Yumi’s Cells” (2015-20) on Naver Webtoon. Lee also produced visuals for this year’s G-Star.
A pop-up store will open at Hyundai Department Store’s Pangyo branch in southern Gyeonggi starting Sept. 1. The operation aims to bring gaming fans to offline spaces and expand its public appeal. The pop-up store event will run for a week.
At the main G-Star event in November, tech and automotive corporations will also be present.
Hyundai Motor Company will run a special booth and host a grand finale match of the so-called 2026 Hyundai N Virtual Cup (translated). At an Intel booth, visitors will be able to try out not-yet-released games — for example, those from SEGA and Koei Tecmo Games.
The flagship element, “G-CON 2026,” will take place at the grand ballroom of Bexco between Nov. 19 and 20 under the theme of “narrative,” to suggest a new possibility where AI and storytelling meet.
Jang Hang-jun, the filmmaker behind “The King’s Warden,” and Lee Byoung-heon, the movie director of “Extreme Job” (2019), will share their philosophies on how to create a storyline that AI cannot replace.
The creative team of Netflix’s “The Witcher” (2019–) series is set to join G-CON 2026. Marcin Blacha and narrative director Philipp Weber of CD Projekt RED will take the floor to reflect on their journey of building an immersive storyline and the
The G-CON 2026 event will admit 1,500 spectators. A free-of-charge networking session will follow.
“This year’s G-Star aims to identify content converged beyond the industrial scope,” Cho Young-ki, the president of the G-Star organizing committee and the president of the K-Games, said.
The final lineup and detailed schedule will be unveiled in September.
