In Marseille, the Japan Expo Sud returns by betting on the world of Twitch – franceinfo

It is the unmissable meeting place for lovers of Japan. After two consecutive cancellations since 2020, the 12th edition of Japan Expo Sud, dedicated to pop and Japanese culture, was able to reopen its doors. From Friday until Sunday, the organizers brought together once again at the Chanot exhibition center in Marseille all the universes appreciated by the public of this show: manga, cosplays, martial arts and many more. We were there.

Like every year, Japan Expo is an opportunity for visitors to immerse themselves in their passions and share them with an audience of insiders. If the mangas and the cosplays have been put forward like all the other editions of the convention, the universe of the video game too. With in particular stands dedicated to multigaming, for games with friends or to compete with new players.

But the world of gaming is also about live streaming platforms. Very popular in France, these applications – like on Youtube and Twitch – allow anyone to become “streamers” and broadcast different content live, especially dedicated to video games. Viewers can watch and comment on the videos in real time on these platforms for free.

On Twitch, audiences have taken off since 2020 and the periods of confinement linked to the pandemic. Depending on the application twitch tracker listing the statistics of the platforms, an average of 145,000 users per day were counted over the whole of 2021 on the platform in France. The peak of “viewers” even exceeded one million (1,030,526) on all French channels in 2021. The practice of watching streaming has become more democratic. Better, it has become a habit.

This twelfth edition thus allowed the public to find some of their favorite streamers. Among them were a few rising figures from the platform. Hiuuugsa gaming journalist from Marseille, with more than 18,000 subscribers on his Twitch channel, as well as Baghera Jones and Hortystreamers specializing in online video games, with 167,000 and 81,000 subscribers respectively to date.

“There was an opportunity effect and to develop encounterssays Thomas Sirdey, co-founder of Japan Expo Sud. Streamers are a bit like the new vehicles for content production. They have taken on a whole new dimension since the start of the pandemic. It was worth showing them off.“

This year, Japan Expo Sud is therefore offering fans the opportunity to chat with streamers from the Twitch platform, in the “Sumire” corner, a space dedicated to exhibitions and signing sessions. A significant moment for the guests, who had the joy of meeting their community in person and not through their computer screens. “This is the first time that we actually meet people from our community at a convention.confess Horty and Baghera Jones. It was so nice to be able to meet them all. People were quite stressed but it was very touching and quite destabilizing too, because it’s as if we were playing the role of mothers“.

For this first “post-Covid” convention, making the world of Twitch and its streamers one of the highlights of the weekend seemed obvious. “The Japan Expo is Europe’s second or third largest pop culture fair. Bringing streaming platforms to the fore remains a logical continuity“, explains streamer Hiuuugs.

For this 2022 edition, Japan Expo Sud has therefore adapted to new trends to find its audience. The event, which brought together 40,000 spectators in 2019, continues until Sunday at Parc Chanot in Marseille.

Japan Expo Sud, at Parc Chanot, Marseille Chanot, 114, Rond-Point du Prado, 13008 Marseille. Until Sunday February 20, 2022. From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Ticket office and complete program to be found on the site of the agreement.