E3 No More?

[Wonderboy]

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/721/721955p1.html

E3 Cancelled?
The world's largest videogame convention may be no more.
by IGN Staff

July 30, 2006 - According to a report at Next-Generation, E3 2005 may have been the last Electronic Entertainment Expo ever, at least as we know it.

While no official announcement from the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) -- the foundation that organizes E3 -- has been made as of yet, the buzz around the videogame industry this weekend is that E3 is no more.

The reasons for the change are mostly economic. As Next-Generation reports, "the larger exhibitors have jointly decided that the costs of the event do not justify the returns, generally measured in media exposure." Larger companies such as Electronic Arts, Activision, and Midway have long organized their own individual gamer days for the press to see and play their upcoming titles. E3 is often much more hectic and overwhelming than individual events, so it looks like the larger publishers are questioning the value of displaying their wares on the jam-packed floors of the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC).

There are rumblings that the trade show may go on in a different form. The new show would be vastly reduced in scope and scale, and move from its current location at the massive LACC to a smaller venue.

An official press announcement with more details is expected to hit the wire tomorrow. IGN will bring you more on this surprising story as we hear it.

I always looked forward to E3 :(.

[Kiyosuki]

We posted at the exact same time, with the exact same one. lol

That is unbelievable.

Here, I'll move my post to this. I'll be a good sport.

Edit: I don't believe it!

http://www.gamesarefun.com/news.php?newsid=6663

I went to this last one, I had no idea it would actually be the final one! Gaming boards are going crazy everywhere!

[grissom]

I've never been to E3, but I always like reading about it and hearing about all the latest games. That sucks.

[Kiyosuki]

Its really shocking news, this came literally out of nowhere.

E3 is the biggest game promotion show in the western world and its suddenlly going down.

Now there's literally only Tokyo Game Show. And no one can be sure whether that'll still be around either.

There's still a chance it won't die, but it'll be a very, very small and private event.

[bovine_university]

I've never been to an E3 convention before, but I've always enjoyed keeping up with it through on-line updates, stories, and videos, and hearing this news depresses me. It's also quite ironic that this is happening this year after what was a spectacular E3 (especially for Nintendo and Microsoft) as opposed to last year after what was an abysmal E3. Sure there's also the Tokyo Game Show and Spaceworld, but it's just not the same. In the long run, I can understand why they would be doing this, since even with this year's festivities, the non-Internet media attention wasn't that big (a couple articles in the newspaper and a blurb on MSNBC, that's about it), but the video game lover within me still just doesn't want to see it go or get downsized.

We might be getting a little too worked up though. The article mentions that E3 may be no more, but it also says that instead the event might just be taking on a different, smaller form in another area (which while still disappointing, is much better than having the event taken away). Other news sources and boards have also been pointing more to a reinvention of E3 rather than a cancellation. Either way, we will probably know for sure tomorrow, we can only hope for the best.

[Rekart]

I seem to remember GameInformer saying this may happen quite awhile ago (I haven't been subscribed to it for around a year, so it's been awhile.) It's not that big of a surprise really, the costs to make a good E3 showing are huge, when you could just do it yourself for lower costs. Just because it's wildly popular, and rightfully so, doesn't mean it's the right business move. Hopefully it just gets scaled back a bit and not completely cancelled, but either way, for those of us who can't go, it doesn't make that big of a difference. It's not like the news and videos won't be out there anyway.

[skittlebrau]

Why does that article say that E3 2005 may have been the last one ever? And why does the website (http://www.e3expo.com/default.aspx) say planning is already underway for 2007?

I can't see them stopping it completely. Scaling it back some, yes, but not killing it off all together. Would be such a bad move on their part considering the status it's risen to these past couple of years amongst the gaming nerds/internet nerds/techie nerds (that's me!) in general.

Meh, I wouldn't worry about it too much, but if I'm wrong and they do somehow manage to kill it off, :'(

[Channel Surfer]

I think people have read more into this news than what's actually been mentioned, and there's still a lot of ifs to be answered. I mean, there hasn't even been any official announcement yet on it, let alone stated plans for its aftermath.

Gamespot probably has the best official take on this right now, so I'll link (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6154897.html) it.

GameSpot has learned that tomorrow the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) will announce changes to the format and scale of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the game industry event that typically draws in excess of 60,000 attendees and includes over 400 exhibitors.

On July 28, the Web site of UK trade magazine MCV reported discussions had taken place between the ESA and E3 exhibitors which addressed the future of the annual trade show. GameSpot spoke with informed game industry sources late Friday and Saturday and learned that the show would radically shrink in size and move from its usual Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC) venue to a smaller location.

Sources said that rather than fill the 540,000 square feet of the cavernous LACC, the show will take place at a location that would support exhibitors in meeting room space only, with companies showing their wares to a select group of attendees numbering in the hundreds rather than thousands.

One reason behind the downsizing of the show can be attributed to the dollar cost of the event to exhibitors, including the demands on companies to assign large numbers of staff to focus on the show, expenses associated with travel to the show, and the added expense to polish game builds and demos to be shown to attendees.

While the largest of E3 exhibitors could support their own marketing and promotion of upcoming games, the smaller companies which rely on the attention that E3 generates may have no recourse other than to market their games independently. But a smaller E3 would impact more than the game industry: the local hotel and related entertainment and service industries in Los Angeles take in more than $50 million during E3--the estimated amount attendees and businesses spend over the course of the three-day event.

One source added that the new format of the show may actually result in a more productive environment to demo games to the media, although they stopped short of full disclosure: "My lips are sealed until after the weekend," the source said.

An official statement from the ESA outlining the changes will be released on Monday, numerous sources said. E-mails to the ESA for comment were not returned at press time.

[Gatorgod]

E3 being private sucks
At least the NATPE convention is still open to non-members
(but who cares ;-/)

[Binky]

Wait, hasn't E3 been a trade/press-only expo for a long time? I don't see why this news would matter to anyone here.

[blueguy]

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060730-7382.html

E3 game trade show not cancelled, but will be downsized
7/30/2006 4:08:48 PM, by Ken Fisher

Contrary to reports across the web, E3 has not been cancelled. Next-Gen had hoped that they would blow the lid off of a hot story by revealing that the show had been cancelled, but some quick fact checking shows that they are simply incorrect.

Sources close to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) tell Ars Technica that the show can and will go on, but that big changes are planned. The "Electronic Entertainment Expo" (hence E3) started in 1995 as a small but interesting annual convention for gaming, following roughly six months after the once-popular annual COMDEX computer trade-show in Las Vegas. The show has grown immensely in popularity, and that appears to be the problem.

Sources say that two major factors have led to the decision to transition the show to a more "closed-door" event. Both, coincidentally, were major reasons for COMDEX shutting down: cost and access. If you've never been to E3, let me describe it like this: long lines, truckloads of people, video games everywhere, and really fancy "booths" (where booth sometimes means basketball court-sized display area). As with COMDEX, the major players are reportedly tired of how much it costs to put on the dog and pony show. Turns out it costs millions of dollars to put the sparkle into an E3 blingfest.

Now in theory, these shows are primarily geared towards connecting businesspeople. To that end, E3 was (again, in theory) only open to industry folks and journalists. In recent years, however, the number of people attending have skyrocketed, in part because E3 registration was a moderately open process. The show was getting huge, and just as with COMDEX, the show-within-a-show was born. What I mean by that is that it was no longer enough to go to the show. To talk to someone who actually knew what they were talking about, you'd need an appointment. To see something really special, really worth writing about, you'd need to meet behind closed doors. To find out anything of interest about something that wasn't on a placard, you needed to get in with the right people. With COMDEX the practice started to get ridiculous; major players officially skipped the show but set up camp in Vegas hotels and had their sideshows for a fraction of the cost.

One source I spoke with told me that media access is indeed a problem, but it probably does not factor in greatly to the decision to downsize the show. Nevertheless, there are plenty of complaints from insiders about how "blogging" in particular has made the shows more difficult, if only because floor people are instructed to speak only of what they are approved to speak of, lest another half-baked headline make the rounds.

Possibly more influential is the fact that E3 is viewed by some people as being the Sony-Microsoft-Nintendo show, which it is not supposed to be. Smaller players have complained about this before, but really, that's just the nature of a tradeshow. Not everyone can be Wil Wheaton, can they?

In all seriousness, the days of the big consumer technology trade shows are indeed passing. At the end of the day, the reason is very simple: ten years ago, you needed a big trade show to generate buzz and hype. It used to be that COMDEX was a special event because so much new stuff was unveiled, and this was the only way to see it. Now, however, information comes down the pipe faster than ever, and companies are wondering if there's really any benefit to spending the big money on displays only to share the floor with other competitors looking to out-wow attendees. It was a media circus for the days when you needed a circus to attract media attention. I don't think anyone would say that consumer electronics is lacking for attention these days.

Official word from the ESA should be out tomorrow. Keep an eye on Opposable Thumbs for additional updates. We'll follow-up there.

[Rekart]

Business decisions outweigh a good time every time.

[Kiyosuki]

Wait, hasn't E3 been a trade/press-only expo for a long time? I don't see why this news would matter to anyone here.

Its been a trade/press only event but its still given out the ability to attend to a lot of people who work even remotely within the gaming world, even store clerks.

Thats no more, its going to be a very closed off event even more so than before. I have a feeling they're going to be a lot more critical of the press who come in as well. Like I attended this last one as press, but I worked as a note taker for a small, local paper that delved into gaming. I'm not so sure that'd be able to make it in this time.

I personally don't mind so much, I think people put too much emphasis on this one trade-show/convention. I think it got a bit too glitzy and out of hand, although it was very fun nonetheless. But it is still a bit of shocking news since it came out of nowhere.

One thing's for sure, its going to be near impossible for some people to "sneak" in now.

[TriforceBun]

As someone who's gone to E3 for the past two years, I have to say...

...THIS REALLY, REALLY SUCKS. :(

[Corkus]

...And as someone who was going to finally get to go fall year because I am turning 18 in the fall...THIS REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY SUCKS. They wouldn't let me in about three years ago, even though I had tickets and all. Looks like it's goodbye booth babes...

One bright side - It will make news more sporadic throughout the year.

[kupomog]

Grrrrrrrr, they've foiled my plans to crash E3 with Roarkey. Bastards.