Tokyo Game Show 2025

The Tokyo Game Show remains one of the top gaming shows in the world. While the first two days of the event are industry, influencers, and press only, days three and four are open to the sweaty masses.

Public days for Tokyo Game Show 2025 will be held from September 27 to September 28.

What happens?

The show is on a huge scale with booths from all the major game publishers, console makers, and mobile gaming platforms with a few indies and international booths thrown in as well.

If you want to play some of the new games, you’ll need to turn up early (the more fanatical mill around the station area all night and then queue up from 5 a.m.) and know exactly where you’re going when you get inside. The queues at the entrance ease up around noon, so if you turn up before that, bring liquid refreshments and a hat as the weather in this part of Japan is still hot in September.

Tickets for Tokyo Game Show 2025

One-day admission tickets cost ¥3,000 per person. Young children (elementary school age and under) get in for free — lucky. If you’d like priority entry time and some free merchandise, then it may be worth getting the Fast Ticket, but it will cost you ¥6,000 per day and you need to enter a lottery. Both ticket types go on sale on July 12 from 12 p.m. You can get tickets at Lawson, 7-Eleven, Family Mart, and other ticketing websites or get an e-ticket easily with KKday.

Tickets will not be sold on the day.

Cosplay

If you’re not into waiting in line at the booths for hours, there is plenty of other entertainment — including one of the biggest gatherings of cosplayers around.

Cosplay tickets

Cosplay ticket information for 2025 is yet to be released. Below is past cosplay information.

In 2024, you needed to register at the venue (Hall 9) if you planned on cosplaying and it cost ¥2,000 on top of your ticket. The ticket got you access to the changing rooms, where you were able to change, and the cloakrooms. You could go extremely early to the changing rooms. Entry was from the first train to 7:45 a.m. on the 28th and 7:15 a.m. on the 29th. Exit was by 8:30 a.m. on the 28th and 8 a.m. on the 29th), but you had to wait before going into the main hall at 10:30 a.m. (28th) or 10 a.m. (29th).

Cosplay rules

You are not meant to arrive at or leave the venue in cosplay — you must change in the rooms provided. There are also some prohibitions about what you can wear — the jist of it is not to be too revealing or offensive but full details can be found on the website.

Tips

Usually, the closing day is the most popular, but people tend to rearrange their plans due to the frequent typhoons that buffet the Japanese archipelago in September. Be warned, if you don’t like (at times) intensely crowded places, you may not enjoy the public days at TGS.