From Sim Racing to PUBG, GES 2026 to Turn DDP Into a Gaming Festival
Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.
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- Seoul Business Agency will host the three-day Games and Esports Seoul 2026 festival at Dongdaemun Design Plaza from Sept. 18 to 20.
- The program will include PUBG professional matches, Gran Turismo 7 sim racing, indie game exhibitions and tournaments for students, teenagers and seniors.
- Exhibitions, arcade games, vehicle displays and other activities will invite both gamers and the wider public to participate.
Dongdaemun Design Plaza will turn into a large gaming venue for three days in September, with professional esports matches running alongside hands-on activities for ordinary visitors.
The Seoul Business Agency said Games and Esports Seoul 2026, known as GES 2026, will take place across DDP from Sept. 18 to 20. Seoul will host the event, while the agency will organize it, bringing together major domestic and international game companies, promising small and midsize Seoul developers, and professional esports teams.
The esports schedule will include the opening round of Hyundai Motor’s Hyundai N Virtual Cup, a Gran Turismo 7 sim racing competition. Top Korean sim racers will compete, alongside an influencer match and the 2026 Seoul Cup university sim racing league. Krafton’s PUBG Weekly Series: Phase 2 and Riot Games’ Riftbound trading card game tournament will be held in the conference hall. Amateur competitions for teenagers and seniors will also take place.
GES 2026 is Seoul’s largest game and esports festival, where citizens and users can directly participate and enjoy the event rather than simply watch it.
DDP Art Hall 1 will host game demonstrations and exhibitions. Seoul indie developers will meet visitors through the Seoul Game Alley and Seoul Game Joint Pavilion, offering merchandise and interactive events. A joint pavilion will present and award projects from the Seoul PlayUp AI Game Challenge, developed with NC AI.
Hyundai Motor will operate a large sim racing booth and hold the final of the Hyundai N x Racing Master Cup mobile racing competition, with competitors from South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Visitors can also see Hyundai’s N 2025 Vision GT model, while outdoor activities will include a real racing car, a retro arcade zone, cosplay photo opportunities, a merchandise store and a stamp tour. The festival is in its third year and will be held alongside the content and technology event EnterTech Seoul.
We will bring together global major IP, promising indie games and esports so that Seoul can establish itself as a global center of gaming culture.
About this summary
Originally published by Dong-A Ilbo in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.
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