On our way to the Makuhari convention center this morning we decided to take a quick census to better describe the difference between TGS and E3 (and between gaming in America and gaming in Japan).
To gather this data, we stood at a chokepoint on the way to the convention center and counted the number of men, women and small children to walk by.
As the table below shows, women comprise approximately 25% of the attendees at TGS. The actual number of women here is somewhat higher because we conducted our census at 10 AM, after most of the booth ladies were required to be in costume and posted at their show-floor stations.
We lack similar data for E3, but our gut feeling is that there are at least triple or quadruple the number of women at this show, many of them arriving with significant others and children in tow.
Update 1: Reader Eric responds, "of course comparing the number of women at TGS and E3 is pretty irrelevent seeing as TGS is open to the public today and tomorrow, while E3 is not."
Great point. However, let's not kid ourselves. E3's "industry only" policy and age-restrictions were habitually ignored. That's part of the reason why exhibitors pulled the plug on E3: it was full of hardcore gamer nerds who had no business reason to be there. TGS at least doesn't even pretend to be "industry only." In the end, the people that showed up to E3 and the people that show up to TGS are the hardest of the hardcore. We think it's interesting that "hardcore" in Japan tends to include many, many more women.
