EN
October 6, 2026
app-publishers, game-advertisers
GAME FUTURE SUMMIT 2026 (GFS2026, hosted by MOTTO Inc.) is one of Japan’s largest B2B gaming industry events, specializing in game marketing and production. Industry professionals from all across the globe come together to discuss the latest trends, and interest in the event has grown steadily year after year since its launch in 2024.
Mistplay’s team attended GFS2026, and here’s how it went.
GFS is one of Japan’s largest B2B gaming industry events, and the 2026 edition confirmed its success.
GFS 2026 brought together over 2,000 pre-registrants, 39 stage sessions, and 37 corporate exhibitors. Despite severe weather as a super typhoon approached Tokyo, the event drew a 70% turnout, highlighting the incredible enthusiasm and commitment of the global gaming community. It was one of the most passionate gatherings on the global gaming calendar, driven by industry leaders eager to scale and succeed.
Alongside the Mistplay booth, our team also hosted panel discussions and presentations. Moreover, the on-site after-party gave us a chance to connect with even more industry professionals than last year.
Mistplay was among the 37 companies and organizations across the adtech, payment processing, and monetization industry displaying their solutions. Together with the LoyaltyPlay team, our team met with gaming industry professionals to discuss their user acquisition and monetization challenges, showing them how rewarded play ("Poi-katsu") solutions can solve these pain points.
👀 Learn more about the Poi-katsu culture and why games and rewards are a strategic match in Japan: 2026 Japan Gaming and Rewards Market Report
On the main session stage, Kaku Kindaichi (Head of Sales Japan at Mistplay) and Yuichi Nakamura (Senior Account Executive at Mistplay) moderated a panel featuring:
The panel discussion focused on cross-functional collaboration, and how different teams and marketers can align to identify and fix churn points.
The official recording of this session has been released by the GFS organizers. You can watch it below:
Or through the GFS Attendee Tool, where you can also track watched/unwatched sessions and easily search other session archives.
Following the panel discussion, Mistplay’s Senior Account Executive Yuichi Nakamura delivered a presentation on how the Mistplay app can help advertisers exceed their target ROAS, with data from over 20 million cumulative downloads and 8 million monthly active users (MAU).
Until GFS2025 last year, case studies sharing insights on global expansion were limited. At GFS2026, however, global expansion emerged as a central theme across numerous sessions.
While many Japanese games have expanded internationally for years, real-world case studies detailing business and marketing successes – and failures – were rarely shared in public forums. Instead, at GFS2026, a wealth of practical insights was presented, including:
As global expansion expertise accumulates and internal and external barriers lower, expanding into new countries has become easier, and we expect it to evolve even further by the time GFS2027 arrives.
Several sessions addressed both game-IP collaborations and strategies for building games directly into IP businesses. This highlighted a broader structural transition: games are evolving from standalone content into critical touchpoints where IP meets consumers – building an ecosystem that drives mutual LTV through bidirectional engagement.
GFS2026 dove deep into practical AI applications across game marketing and business operations.
At least five sessions featured "AI" explicitly in their titles, and many other panels and keynotes actively integrated AI adoption into their discussions. Beyond simply embedding AI into daily workflows, the use of AI has reached a point where it is no longer considered new, allowing marketers to focus more clearly on fundamental marketing principles.
Mistplay’s high-quality global user base is ready to support your expansion into global markets. By advertising with Mistplay, you gain access to 40 million active, high-quality users worldwide across the Mistplay app and partner applications within the LoyaltyPlay ecosystem. If you are interested in advertising your game on Mistplay, reach out to us: our team will be happy to help you.
Thank you to everyone who attended GFS2026, Mistplay’s panel discussions, and those who visited the Mistplay booth. We look forward to connecting with you again at GFS2027!