Canada should take a cue from how New York handles gaming events

I’ve long lamented the lack of consumer gaming events in Canada. Despite being one of the largest producers of games in the world, we don’t have the kinds of dedicated gaming conventions that regularly draw thousands that we see across the globe. The U.S. and Australia have PAX. Europe has Gamescom. Japan has Tokyo Game Show. And Canada? Well, we don’t have much, outside of commendable but burgeoning efforts like VGLX in Ontario and Game Con Canada in Alberta.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and after attending New York Comic Con (NYCC) for the first time last week, I feel even more strongly about it. That event, and everything that goes on around it, provides a clear example of the kind of thing I’d love to see more of in Canada when it comes to gaming. This sentiment becomes all the more pronounced for me when I consider that Fan Expo Canada, our biggest con, routinely features little in the way of gaming programming outside of (admittedly popular) actors who have been in games.

But before I go further, here’s some quick context. NYCC is by far the largest pop-culture con in North America. With 250,000-plus attendees, it actually far eclipses the roughly 130,000 brought in by Fan Expo Canada. Naturally, that means it’s not exactly a 1:1 comparison, but they’re certainly still similar in terms of being massive East Coast pop-culture events.

And that’s what I want to highlight: the fact that these events draw in so many people. Because of that, companies know when and where tens of thousands of us nerds are going to be congregating and can plan accordingly. That’s what New York did so well while I was there. If you’re someone who’s willing to brave insane crowds (and as I grow older, I’m personally finding that less and less appealing), NYCC has a lot for you on the gaming front. But if you’re someone who understandably doesn’t attend a con either for crowding issues, costs or any other number of reasons, New York had plenty of gaming stuff to do outside of the show, too.

First, here’s a quick breakdown of some of the gaming programming at NYCC 2026:

• Tetris — the classic game made its North American in-car debut in a Volkswagen, and co-founder Henk Rogers was even in attendance.
• Bandai Namco — tons of playable demos, including Ace Combat 8 (in fun pilot setups, no less), Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3, and Gundam Rogue Orbit.
• Blumhouse — the horror company’s annual Blumfest panel featured some gaming-related announcements (including, ironically, an adaptation of Amanda the Adventurer from Hamilton, Ont.’s own Mangled Maw Games).
• Jay and Silent Bob’s Joint Venture — Nitrate Games revealed its new Jay and Silent Bob game, and series creator Kevin Smith made a special appearance.
• Final Fantasy VII Revelation — the entire FFVII Remake cast gathered for the first time for a panel.
• Konami — a huge Yu-Gi-Oh! booth featuring the U.S. demo debut of Tag Force GX, among other playable games.

That’s a high-level overview, to say nothing of the many actors in attendance for relevant popular games, like Clair Obscur‘s Charlie Cox, Ben Starr, Jennifer English, Rich Keeble, and Kirsty Rider; Uncharted‘s Nolan North, Emily Rose and Richard McGonagle; or Halo’s Steve Downes and Jennifer Taylor. (To be fair, Fan Expo Canada has gotten some of these guests before, but intermittently and, often, not altogether like that.)

Naturally, this also doesn’t include the many vendors, cosplayers and other kinds of smaller but nonetheless relevant gaming programming. Honestly, it all went pretty well, even with the expectedly long lines.

A big part of NYCC’s solid gaming lineup, I imagine, comes down to its organizer. ReedPop, the company behind the show, also organizes PAX, so obviously those folks know a thing or two about games. Conversely, it often feels like Fan Expo Canada cares little about games, given the almost complete absence of exhibitor booths and little in the way of panels and such.

Look no further than this year. Fan Expo actually had the world’s biggest reunion of Resident Evil stars, but this got pretty much no promotion on either the con’s socials or its website, leaving Canadian actress Alyson Court (Claire Redfield), who organized it, to do the promotional heavy lifting. And come panel time, Fan Expo didn’t even come to escort the actors through the halls it dangerously overcrowded, so most of the talent ended up being late, by no fault of their own. (Amusingly, when I had mentioned to Fan Expo PR that I’d be interested in speaking with the Resident Evil actors, they thought I meant Oded Fehr from the maligned live-action films — the perfect example of how they view games.)

But my bigger point here, if anything, doesn’t even have to do with a single event, necessarily. Indeed, the main reason I was in New York was because a company was doing something outside of NYCC. Thanks to Square Enix, I was able to go to a nearby location and play Final Fantasy VII Revelation (which I adored) and Romancing SaGa 3: Destinies United (a remake of what seemed to be a pretty standard but nonetheless charmingly quirky turn-based RPG).

And while that experience was just for media, plenty of other gaming companies were doing things around NYCC for the public, including:

• Chrono Trigger concert — NYC was one of three stops for this orchestral show based on the beloved Square Enix JRPG.
• New York Games Week — a giant week-long collection of many showcases, tournaments, meetups and more.
• Sonic Chaos Club — an official underground hangout featuring musical performances, merch, immersive experiences and more.
• Stranger Than Heaven — Sega hosted offsite events for both press and fans to play its upcoming Like a Dragon spin-off.

To be sure, some of that is similar to what we have here. In particular, we’ve had a “Toronto Games Week” for years, well before New York Games Week was even a thing. But it’s the way that all of this came together in NYC that felt especially commendable. Companies, grassroots organizers and fans alike all united to do some cool stuff, whether or not they were even at NYCC. There was a little bit for everyone there, even if you understandably didn’t want to set foot in a dauntingly big con.

But in Canada, this sort of thing can often feel segmented outside of Fan Expo. Toronto Games Week happens in June, which annoyingly made it overlap with FIFA this year. Canadian studios like Digital Extremes (Warframe) and Behaviour Interactive (Dead by Daylight) host legitimately rad fan events, but those are isolated and focused on single games. And half the time, we don’t even get the cool gaming concerts like Chrono Trigger or, if we do, it’s months or years later.

That’s why I’d love to see more in Canada in the vein of what went on in New York. If Fan Expo Canada seemingly isn’t ever going to do anything substantial with gaming, we have to build it ourselves. Host events in and outside of Fan Expo Canada, knowing that people are going to be in town anyway. (Square Enix, ironically, used to do this pre-COVID but sadly hasn’t since.)

Make more concerted efforts to time related events with one another, even if they’re not during the Fan Expo window. Think outside the box, like when Ubisoft Toronto hosted public tours to coincide with the city’s Doors Open event. (Ubisoft reps previously told me attendance for this far exceeded their expectations.) Support the ones who are working to build something.

And to be clear, I’m sympathetic to the fact that these kinds of things are difficult to plan and expensive to produce. It won’t happen overnight. They might very well go away after a few years like EGLX. But we’ve already seen people in Canada successfully prove that you don’t have to be Fan Expo- or NYCC-sized. You can start small, both to manage scope and keep things more affordable for consumers.

Two game designers put on Toronto Games Week every year. A lot of video game concerts end up coming to Canada because a lone TD employee helps organize them in his free time. VGLX, which returns next week to Mississauga, is spearheaded by one gaming entrepreneur who primarily does business-to-business events. Game Con Canada, which has grown immensely in Alberta over the past few years, is largely run by two guys. Indie devs put on an awesome free showcase of games in Vancouver. And even working within the (unsupportive) Fan Expo Canada system, Alyson Court, in between juggling acting gigs and numerous international con appearances for The Big Comfy Couch, X-Men and Resident Evil, still wrangled together a bunch of fan-favourite actors on her own.

These are just some ideas dreamed up by people far smarter than me. And given that the U.S. continues to be inhospitable to so many people, Canada (especially Toronto in proximity to New York) is always a much friendlier alternative for everyone. But ultimately, the point that I really want to hammer home here is that we have a huge gaming industry. Even if companies and people don’t want to fly talent out here for events, the talent is already here! It’s not like you’d have to fly them out. And even if you wanted to have people travel between provinces, that’s still a lower-cost — and, compared to the U.S., safer — option.

I don’t know what the solutions are. A part of me feels defeated after having banged this drum for years. But then I think about the promise I see from events like VGLX and Game Con Canada and get optimistic. I hope that those kinds of efforts, as well as what we see in the likes of NYC, show what can be done on all kinds of scales.

Canada has some of the best developers in the world. Let’s put on more events here that are worthy of their talent.