Supporting young creators in game production! CESA announces "Top Game Creators Academy," a creator development program!

Tokyo Game Show 2024 (TGS2024) is being held from Thursday, September 26 to Sunday, September 29, 2024. On Friday, September 27, 2024, the "CESA Announcement Stage" was held and a new creator training program, the " Top Game Creators Academy" (TGCA), was announced. The new creator training program, "Top Game Creators Academy" (TGCA), was announced.

The program will produce future top creators! The "Top Game Creators Academy" was announced!

The Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) announced the "TGCA," a program to nurture the next generation of creators, at TGS2024. The TGCA is a program of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Japan Arts Council, and CESA. Young creators of the next generation will be guided by mentors, creative advisors, and business advisors so that they can utilize their ideas and technical skills to create games. TGCA's concept is to provide support for multiple years, from three to five years, and to send outstanding creators out into the world.

Features of TGCA

A dedicated mentor, a creative advisor, and a business advisor accompany and support each trainee.
Active creators from major Japanese companies, mainly CESA member companies, are assigned to each advisor.
Aiming to step up from domestic events to overseas events by exhibiting at events.

If selected for training, guidance will be provided free of charge, and necessary support, including travel and expenses required for exhibiting at events, will also be provided free of charge. The full support for the costs of exhibiting and creating events is a great motivator for development.

Akihiro Hino of Level-5 has been appointed Principal of TGCA.

Akihiro Hino, President and CEO of Level-5, has been announced as a Principal of the TGCA. Akihiro Hino stated that he hopes to find and support real creators through this program.

Akihiro Hino was selected because he is a programmer and director who has worked on numerous projects, including the "Layton" series and "Yokai Watch," and because he will serve as a goal for all creators participating in the program. He was selected for this award because he is a programmer and director, as well as a creator of many works, including the "Yokai Watch" series and "Yokai Watch.

Akihiro Hino's comments on his appointment

To all of you who aspire to become top game creators, I am very excited to see you all at the start of the "TGCA," a gathering of talented young people. It has been more than 30 years since I started working as a game creator, and I feel that the top creators have one thing in common: they don't think of their work as work, but as something they enjoy and immerse themselves in. There are difficult moments in game creation, but these are more than outweighed by the absolute joy of the work. I hope that everyone at TGCA will immerse themselves in game creation through this program, while having fun in the midst of challenges. This is not a place where you are forced to do something, but a place where you can accomplish something on your own, and I hope that you will fully demonstrate your creative energy. We are looking forward to the day when we can further enliven the game industry together with those of you who have gained a lot of experience here in the future. We look forward to receiving many applications from you!

The market size of the game industry has doubled in four years! Game Industry Report 2024" is now available!

In conjunction with the announcement of the TGCA, Mr. Shingo Okamura, CESA Board Member and Chairman of the CSR Committee, presented the "Game Industry Report 2024.

The market size of the game industry has doubled over the past four years!

The global market size of the game industry is about 30 trillion yen. The market size has also increased in the 2020 Corona Disaster, doubling over the past four years. East Asia accounts for about half of the regional total, at 42%, followed by North America and Europe.

In the content industry, games accounted for 60% of the results!

Overseas sales of the content industry totaled 4.7 trillion yen, approaching that of the steel industry. As for the breakdown of the content industry, games accounted for 60% of the total. When combined with animation, it accounts for 90% of the total contents industry.

Average annual income and starting salaries for game industry workers are on the rise!

The expansion of the game-related industry means that the number of people involved in it has also increased. The total workforce, including those in peripheral industries, is estimated to be approximately 200,000. The data shows that the game industry is in an important position in terms of labor. It was also announced that the average annual salary in the game industry is approximately 7.08 million yen, and the average starting salary is 236,000 yen per month, indicating that the average annual salary and starting salary for game industry workers are on the rise.

Game creators" ranked first among elementary and junior high school boys in terms of the occupations they want to become!

In a ranking of occupations that elementary and junior high school boys would like to have in 2023, "game creator" came in at a resounding No. 1! It was 3.2% ahead of the second place professional athlete, who garnered 17.9% of the votes. With the rise of e-sports and the expansion of the game industry in recent years, the number of opportunities to experience games has increased, and this may indicate that games have become a more familiar part of our daily lives.

Game companies ranked in the ranking of companies chosen by 25-year graduates!

According to the Mynavi Nikkei ranking of the most popular companies for university students graduating in 2025, game companies ranked high on the list of "most popular companies for employment" chosen by the graduating class of 2013! Among science majors, the Sony Group, well known for its PlayStation, ranked first. SEGA also ranked ninth. Sega and Bandai were ranked 8th and 10th, respectively, indicating the growing interest in the game industry among young people, not only in the sciences but also in the humanities.

Applications are scheduled to open at the end of October 2024!

TGCA plans to begin accepting applications at the end of October 2024. Application requirements include being under 30 years of age and having experience in the actual production of at least one game software title.

Applicants must be under 30 years old as of the end of March 2025.
Applicants must have experience in the production of at least one video game, regardless of whether they are professional or amateur.
Not earning a living by publishing games as a profession.

The "Game Industry Report 2024" announced that the overall market size of the game industry has doubled over the past four years, and the global market size has risen steadily to approximately 30 trillion yen. In addition, game creators are ranked as the No. 1 occupation that elementary and junior high school students want to become! As for the future schedule, a dedicated website will be launched by the end of October 2024 to begin accepting applications from the public, so we will have to wait for further news! More details can be found on the official CESA website.