GAME DAYS 2026 Opens November 9 in Seoul: CD Projekt Red, Shift Up, Harada, and Shuhei Yoshida Lead Full Speaker Lineup
South Korea is accelerating its push into the global console market. Hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism alongside the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), GAME DAYS 2026 will take place on Monday, November 9, and Tuesday, November 10, 2026, at the SKY31 Convention on the 31st floor of Lotte World Tower in Seoul. This year's summit brings together an elite international roster of creators behind Cyberpunk 2077, Tekken, Danganronpa, RimWorld, and Stellar Blade.
Day 1 (November 9): 2026 K-Console Conference and Global Track Headliners
Opening day on Monday, November 9, is anchored by the second annual K-Console Conference (Console Game Developers Conference), built around the central theme "How Great Console Games Are Made." First launched in 2025 to help South Korea's traditionally PC and mobile-focused studios transition toward global console development, the second edition expands beyond Japan to welcome leading North American and European creators alongside Asian industry veterans.
The conference's flagship Global Track features five renowned developers sharing practical case studies on quest design, long-term franchise management, and late-stage technical optimization:
- Paweł Sasko (Associate Game Director, CD Projekt Red): Taking the stage for a session titled "The Structure of Unforgettable Quests in The Witcher and Cyberpunk Games," Sasko will break down the narrative architecture and quest design methodologies used across The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Cyberpunk 2077.
- Katsuhiro Harada (CEO, VS Studio): The longtime Tekken steward will present "How a Global Intellectual Property (IP) Loved for Over 30 Years is Made," exploring how to sustain a worldwide fighting franchise across three decades while cultivating active international fan communities.
- Lee Dong-gi (Chief Technology Officer, Shift Up): With Stellar Blade Complete Edition arriving this month on new hardware, Shift Up's CTO will detail late-stage polish strategies, performance optimization, and production completeness for large-scale console releases.
- Kazutaka Kodaka (Producer, Too Kyo Games): The creator of Danganronpa and The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy will share insights into narrative implementation and character-driven storytelling on consoles.
- Tynan Sylvester (Creator of RimWorld, Ludeon Studios): Sylvester will examine core indie game design principles and systemic gameplay architecture capable of sustaining thousands of hours of player engagement.
Shuhei Yoshida Panel Moderation and Official PlayStation & Xbox Tracks
Following the individual keynotes, former SIE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida, who served as keynote speaker at last year's inaugural conference, returns to moderate a flagship panel discussion titled "The Honest Stories of Developers Making Globally Successful Console Games." The session brings the Global Track speakers together to discuss the practical realities of shipping major console titles worldwide.
Responding directly to feedback from local studios requesting clearer guidance on platform onboarding, devkit acquisition, non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), and quality assurance, major console platform holders will also host two dedicated technical sessions:
- PlayStation (Sony Interactive Entertainment Korea - SIEK): Titled "The Journey to a PlayStation Launch: From Partner Registration to Passing Technical Requirements Checklist (TRC)," this closed-door session walks developers through partner onboarding and clearing PlayStation's rigorous TRC certification process. Due to sensitive platform documentation, attendance is restricted to pre-approved applicants who complete NDA procedures.
- Xbox: An open session titled "Jump In: XBOX All-in-One Entry Guide" led by Michelle Jang (Head of Korea Partnerships at Xbox) and Microsoft platform specialists will cover the Xbox ecosystem, store registration, certification workflows, and development environment deployment.
Day 2 (November 10): AI Transformation (AX) Showcase and Serious Game Forum
On Tuesday, November 10, starting at 10:00 AM KST in the SKY31 Convention Auditorium, the focus shifts to production technology with the 2026 AI Transformation (AX) in Game Development Showcase. The morning AX Summit examines real-world AI workflows and shifting studio pipelines, followed by afternoon case studies presented by studios selected by the Korea Mobile Game Association, the Korea Game Developers Association, and the Korea AI Game Association.
Running concurrently at 1:00 PM KST in Conference Room B, the 2026 Serious Game Forum will tackle "The Intersection of AI NPCs and Indie Games, and the Expansion of Serious Games," highlighting AI-driven non-player character architecture, digital healthcare games, and clinical validation standards. Across both days, attendees can also explore hands-on demo zones featuring domestic console titles, an Xbox experience booth, and winning entries from the Global Indie Game Development Contest (GIGDC), alongside the Excellent Game of the Year Awards and GIGDC Awards ceremonies during a packed November 2026 game release calendar. Full session schedules and pre-registration details are live on the official GAME DAYS 2026 portal (gamedays.kr).
My Take: Seoul Is No Longer Just Watching Console Giants, It Is Hosting the Masterclass
I find it remarkable how quickly South Korea has turned its console ambitions into a structured industrial pipeline. Five years ago, Korean game development was overwhelmingly defined by PC MMORPGs and mobile live-service titles. Today, following the global breakthroughs of Lies of P and Stellar Blade, KOCCA is not just funding local studios: it is bringing Cyberpunk 2077's quest director, Tekken's longtime architect, and PlayStation Studios' former chief directly to Seoul to share their playbooks with domestic teams.
What stands out most to me in this lineup is the pairing of world-class creative lectures with deeply practical platform onboarding, especially Sony's NDA-protected session on clearing PlayStation TRC requirements and Xbox's end-to-end store certification guide. Passing technical certification and mastering final-stage optimization are the exact hurdles where ambitious new console teams often stumble. By combining CD Projekt Red's narrative craft with Shift Up's front-line engineering insights, GAME DAYS 2026 underscores just how seriously South Korea is building its next wave of global console hits.
SEO consultant for over 20 years and digital entrepreneur, Charles "Grimtag" is the founder of Pro-Gamer.gg, Retrocharting.com, and Gamescharting.com. A competitive gamer, streamer, and retro game collector, he has worked in the video game industry for over 15 years, notably as a consultant for leading game price comparison platforms. Passionate about real-time performance data and gaming technology, he analyzes competitive esports, gaming hardware benchmarks, and creator workflows on Pro-Gamer.gg with an authentic player perspective.
