Convention - PGW 2025: a festive opening and brand new nighttime sessions

By Mulder, Paris, Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, 29 october 2025

The opening of Paris Games Week 2025 took on the air of a festival launch on Wednesday, October 29, with Paris Games Night, a pre-opening event starting at 5 p.m. that immediately set the tone for an edition designed to occupy evenings as well as days, and which will officially run from Thursday, October 30, to Sunday, November 2, at Paris Expo Porte de Versailles. The event will take place in Halls 1 and 2.2 on the exhibition side and a new hub right next door: the Dôme de Paris – Palais des Sports, renamed the PGW / Coca-Cola main stage for the occasion, where PGW will inaugurate nighttime sessions for the first time in its history, scheduled every evening from 9:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. for premium ticket holders. This dual location, easily accessible via the Porte de Versailles outdoor walkway, is more than just a logistical detail: it heralds a show that extends into the evening, opening up its e-sports content and shows beyond office hours and taking on an after-hours identity that is eagerly awaited by the Parisian public. On the ticketing side, this Wednesday's special opening is set in stone: a dedicated “Opening Night” ticket, same gate, same promise of first-hand experiences and stage revelations before the flood of visitors the next day.

This evening gamble is changing the experience in a big way. The Dome, a legendary 5,100-seat venue adjacent to the park, is becoming the centerpiece of major live events: e-sports finals, stage performances, segments with creators and streamers, and a program that has an American show vibe while keeping the industrial efficiency of a Parisian trade show. The challenge is clear: to streamline the day in the halls, shift some of the intensity to a dedicated stage, and give visitors a second wind with these Night Sessions that extend the party for two hours. This is not simply an extension of the opening hours: in its official communications, the organizer emphasizes the “new” status of these sessions, the first of their kind at PGW, designed to enhance the premium experience. And when we remember that the Dome is literally located at the foot of the Porte de Versailles pavilions, we can appreciate the practical consequences: less walking, more time with the controller in hand, and more tightly scheduled appointments.

In the halls, the opening gives an unvarnished glimpse of the density of 2025: a show billed as its 14th edition and presented by the organizer as “the biggest gaming event of the year” in France, with the promise of a PGW “with a new look” that goes beyond the strict boundaries of video games to mix music, pop culture, tournaments, and creators. The national figures cited by PGW—40.2 million gamers in France—put this ambition into perspective. The major stands are anticipated or confirmed by the mainstream media: we expect to see Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox, but also Bandai Namco, Capcom, Activision, Focus Entertainment, Epic Games, and Ubisoft setting the pace for queues that are expected to be well managed thanks to a program spread out between day and night. This combination of hardcore expectations and family-friendly offerings is clearly intentional: the organizer speaks of an “immersive and festive experience” aimed at enthusiasts, curious visitors, and families alike, and the official schedule already features a mosaic of continuous activities and playable demos, indicating that the focus is on variety rather than on a single “one more thing.”

Paris Games Night is serving as a concrete launch pad: special tickets, simultaneous opening of the halls and the Dome, and a clear signal to the e-sports and streaming communities that peak times are no longer limited to weekend afternoons. For those who want to see everything before everyone else, now is the time to grab a first session, check out the tournament slots, and plan your return to the Dome for the rest of the evening. Note that the online agenda centralizes activities and slots, with event sheets that emphasize the practical details: location, duration, capacity, and format (free demo, stage, workshop). A typical entry sets the tone: a playable demo of “Ghost of Yōtei” at the Fnac booth with 25 stations, running continuously, proof that retail partners are doing their part to absorb the flow and ensure pick-up-and-play experiences without prior seminars. It's a basic piece of information that makes all the difference on the spot: knowing where to go, how much time to allow, and whether to go for the opening, the middle of the day, or the evening.

On the partner side, Fnac, a long-standing pillar of the PGW ecosystem, will be present with a 650 m² booth featuring a 150 m² dedicated stage, a store, and demonstration areas designed for continuous rotation: PC gaming, portable consoles, virtual reality, 3D printers, and a list of brands that sets the bar high, from HP to Lenovo, Lego to Meta, MSI to PlayStation, and TCL. This gives us a clue as to the tone of this edition: the convergence between hardware, creators, live shows, and retailtainment is not just a slogan but a logistical mechanism, which we can imagine being repeated on several stages and in several corners. Regulars know that when a retailer puts this type of space with a stage at the heart of the flow, it's not just to sell, it's to pace the visit and smooth out the wait, and this point will be closely observed from the opening night onwards.

In terms of content, third-party ecosystems have also begun to mark their presence: dedicated pages detailing Capcom's games and events are online, and Parisian cultural media outlets are compiling lists of expected studios, which are useful for preparing a personal roadmap—although we will keep the necessary grain of salt: the anticipated presence is not the same as a final announcement of the playable line-up, and the best source for confirming an appointment remains the official schedule page and the publishers' social media accounts. Another useful tip for tonight: the article on Jeuxvideo.com reminds us that the event kicks off on Wednesday, October 29, so you can avoid the classic mistake of arriving first thing on Thursday thinking you've missed out on exclusives the day before. Yes, some hands-on demos and shows will already have started, and that's the point.

Beyond the announcements, the real novelty is the nighttime atmosphere of the show: PGW no longer seeks to focus attention on a daytime prime time event, but stretches the event out so that visitors can go from queue to queue, show to show, demo to demo, and, if necessary, a late-night session at the Dome, away from the pavilions. This allows for more refined visiting strategies: prioritize Paris Games Night to test what will be popular on Thursday, reserve Night Sessions for the big shows, and keep the morning slots for family experiences and first come, first served events that are still accessible. In short, the 2025 opening serves as a signal: Paris Games Week has grown in size, hours, and stage presence, and tonight is proof of that.

You can discover our photos in our Flickr page

Photos : Boris Colletier / Mulderville

(Source: press release)