CONQuest 2022, held on 23rd-24th July in Manila, Philippines was an amazing explosion of pop-culture, gaming & cosplay at the SMX Convention Center.
Featuring two floors of content, CONQuest 2022 definitely felt like a true return of pop-culture conventions in the South-East Asia region, especially with the huge pause in live conventions in the last 2 years. With areas dedicated to esports like League of Legends, Valorant and DoTa as well as fighting games such as Tekken 7 and Guilty Gear -Strive- as well as content creator areas for streamers, cosplayers and artists, CONQuest had so much to offer to all its attendees.
CONQuest 2022 – massive turnout for fun & entertainment
Queues to collect tickets and enter the venue started as early as 7am and with the weather in Manila being pretty warm, attendees queued on and braved the heat (even in cosplay) to make sure they were able to get into the halls as early as possible.
With a full showcase of the latest gaming technology available for attendees to try their hand at with booths by huge gaming brands such as ROG and Logitech, attendees were spoiled for choice in allocating their time to all the content available to experience during the two day festivities.
Content overload at CONQuest 2022
The centre of attention for CONQuest 2022 on the second floor of the SMX Convention Center was the community stage but the crowd was packed around the creator and artistes booths throughout both days. Probably the most constantly crowded area during the event, attendees were able to buy merchandise of their favourite characters as well as purchase prints from their favourite artistes such as Anne Yatco (voice of the Raiden Shogun from Genshin Impact), Ratana (voice of Yae Miko from Genshin Impact) as well as Kitz Cua and Charess, popular faces in the Filipino community for their livestreams and cosplays. A table-top games area was also available for attendees to try their hands at D&D and other boardgames.
But the true highlight of the event, which probably drew the loudest cheers and screams through the two-day event, were the international guests that were invited to attend the event. Fans and attendees were super eager for both the public stage appearances and the paid meet & greet sessions with their idols such as V33Wise, Kyedae, LilyPichu & Michael Reeves, AsianGuyStream (Atsu) & Nekkopiii, Tounto, Bao & Senz (vtubers!) and others on the massive guest list throughout the weekend.
Cosplay was on full display
The cosplay at CONQuest 2022 was also on point throughout the event. But we can let the pictures tell that story better.
This event really has brought back the idea that conventions are finally back in full swing in South East Asia including; the gaming companies getting people to have an hands-on experience with their new products, esports teams looking to build their community with meet & greets, cosplayers looking to connect with their fans face-to-face and even streamers looking to meet other streamers and those from their community.
If you attend only one event in the Philippines, make this the one
As a first time traveller to the Philippines, the community spirit and friendliness that was shown by everyone at CONQuest 2022 was frankly amazing, from the organisers to the guests and also the attendees themselves. As much as the international guest list and the technology on display were important aspects of the event, it was truly the Philippines community that really brought the vibe and energy to CONQuest 2022.
If you’ve read till here and would like to experience some of what CONQuest 2022 was about, you can click on the following links to view the livestream vods on twitch.tv/AGCtv. (available till September 2022)
