In a celebratory announcement made by the event’s organisers, Phoenixx Inc, it has been shared that the 2025 Tokyo Indie Games Summit attracted more than 23,000 visitors during its two-day event on 8 and 9 March, more than doubling its previous attendance figure of 9,000.
This year’s summit showcased over 200 curated indie titles and introduced the first Tokyo Indie Games Summit Award ceremony, which recognised creativity and innovation in independent game development. Supported by Japanese broadcaster BS Asahi, the awards acknowledged the following projects:
Grand Prize: One Turn Kill (Deckbuilder / Strategy) – Developed by Waku Waku Games
Excellence Award: Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade (Roguelike JRPG) – Developed by 7QUARK
Excellence Award: DevilConnection (Visual Novel Adventure) – Developed by ChaoGames
The event also featured panel discussions with industry figures Shuhei Yoshida and Shunji Mizutani, the national finals of the real-time strategy game Jelly Troops, and a range of other activities including gameplay previews and live developer matches involving NIJISANJI VTubers. A selection of livestreams from the event can be found HERE.
Kazunori Sakamoto, founder of Phoenixx Inc., reflected on the increasing scale of the event and its future potential, sharing:
Seeing the amazing energy of creators and fans from all over to come together in Kichijoji was truly inspiring. We are immensely grateful for the growth of TIGS, and are putting plans in place to ensure 2026 is our biggest year to date.
