One of the key takeaways from yesterday’s PSX SEA- the first gaming show of its kind here in Malaysia- is that there are many dedicated gamers here that wanted to go to the event. Held as a one day event, people were queuing up as soon as 3AM in the morning (link is in Bahasa Malaysia) just to be the first in line to try out upcoming games that are yet to be released. The small venue that is KL Live at Life Center clearly couldn’t handle the initial wave of crowd.
As the event is getting ready to start around 8-9am, we could see a long line formed which goes from the entry point all the way downstairs and then stretches as far as to the nearest monorail station- Raja Chulan. It was ridiculously long, arriving at 7am was considered late as the waiting time stretches as long as a few hours.
We are here at PSX SEA 2017! Makes aih panjangnya line! pic.twitter.com/bFfSQ9vKgy
— Gamer Malaya (@GamerMalayaMy) August 5, 2017
We asked around the crowd in the waiting line, and the furthest we managed to found was a guy coming all the way from Johor for this one-day event. We won’t be surprised if there are more people coming all over Malaysia- or even outside of Malaysia- just to wait in line for hours just to get in- and then wait in line again for the game demos.

We asked the security officials and the auxiliary police who were in charge to control the queue about the huge crowd. One mentioned that the number of people coming in is more than 3000, though this is just a rough estimate from their perspective. They tried their best with controlling the crowd, moving the queue inside the building by the afternoon to not keep them under the sun.
You know how you rage quit dark souls and come back to it the next day? Returned to #PSX17SEA later in the evening. Less people, no queues. pic.twitter.com/o3JSO5kIRy
— Fade Fan Johnny (@JohannAffendy) August 5, 2017
The huge lines started to receded around 3PM where everyone was queuing within the building premises. The crowd by night time, after all the stage events, were sparse and was definitely the best time to get in with no queues whatsoever.
As such, the reactions in social media were harsh. Those who couldn’t get in and waited outside for too long are certainly not happy that PSX is held in such a small venue. The way the organisers handle the crowd was also criticised- forcing people to exit by not providing food and toilet within the venue, and then having to re-queue all over again to re-enter afterwards- was not received well, though we understood why it had to be that way.
At least, on the more positive note, this proves that there is a huge audience that would support gaming events like this. As our writer opined last year about the need for more gaming events in Malaysia last year, all we need is to prove is how big the audience here before more game publishers start noticing this untapped market. PSX SEA did a good job in proving that, based on the crazy long lines in the morning that lasted until 3PM.
Though we definitely understand if you felt like it was a complete disaster thanks to the crazy queues. Either it’s an intentional plan to make the event bigger than it is or the organisers underestimate the crowd of Malaysian gamers, we leave you on what to believe. The organisers are well aware of the crowd they managed to pull, and hopefully they will better serve the crowd for the next PSX SEA, which we hope to see again next year.