20 Oct 2017 Pop-up attractions in London and LA to celebrate the art of Final Fantasy By Tom Anstey
The Final Fantasy franchise is one of the most popular in videogame history Photo: Square Enix
A new pop-up experience opening in London and Los Angeles will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Final Fantasy franchise from IP developer Square Enix.
First to open, the London event will run from 3-5 November in Covent Garden. Fans will be able to view special artworks, purchase limited edition merchandise and play games from across the Final Fantasy series.
Visitors will be able to get their hands on the upcoming Dissidia Final Fantasy NT – the latest release in the series.
Special guests are also lined up for the event, with Dissidia Final Fantasy NT producer Ichiro Hazama and Final Fantasy XIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida both scheduled to appear.
The Los Angles pop-up will take place at Gallery Nucleus between 2 December and 7 January, with an exhibition featuring work from artists including Joey Chou, Perry Maple Dixon, Helen Chen, Jisoo Kim and Sachin Teng.
“This is a momentous occasion”, said Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Final Fantasy. Since 1987, art has been a cornerstone of Final Fantasy and in that time, various artists have taken up the mantle, now let us celebrate together.”
Pop-up attractions are beginning to compete more directly with traditional attractions by harnessing the power of consumer brands and utilising social media networks to market time-limited events.
Research from the Centre for Economics and Business Research into pop-up retailing and experiences shows that the sector generated over £2.3bn a year in the UK in 2015, with turnover growing at over 12 per cent.
Researchers said: " In our survey of consumers, we found that the main reason given for visiting a pop-up was the ability to purchase unique goods."
