E3 possibly finished

ShimSham

ShimSham

CAGiversary!
Elkatas over at the Penny Arcade boards posted this and I figured I'd repost it here.

SOURCE

Of course this is so far rumour, but I still find it very interesting.

Senior industry sources have revealed to Next-Gen.Biz that the E3 industry event, in its present form, has been cancelled for next year and the foreseeable future.

The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) shindig has been a staple of game industry life since the mid-1990s. However, we understand the larger exhibitors have jointly decided that the costs of the event do not justify the returns, generally measured in media exposure.

Publishers believe the multi-million dollar budgets would be better spent on more company-focused events that bring attention to their own product lines rather than the industry as a whole.

Well placed sources say the news that larger exhibitors were pulling out had prompted urgent meetings among publishing executives. They decided that, without the support of the larger software publishers and hardware manufacturers, there would be no point in continuing.

ESA president Doug Lowenstein will likely announce the news some time within the next 48 hours, possibly on Monday. It's possible that the ESA will seek to limit the damage by organizing some form of lesser event in May, but it's clear that the days of an industry event attended by all the major publishers, spending big money, are gone.

Calls to ESA staff are not being returned at present.
 
This may have some benifits such as game publishers having public shows instead of industry only. Kinda like what Nintendo does in Japan. So yeah, since I never got to go to an E3 and get freebies galore I really don't care. Not like game developers and publishers are going to work any less hard on their titles because they aren't competing for the time and exposure that gaming journalists give them.

I want a cookie.
 
According to GameSpot E3 its not going to be canceled, but its going to be downgraded.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6154897.html

Points of Interest:

ESA is going to make a formal annoucement tomorrow about this.
Show will radically shrink in size and move to a new location, not using the LA Convention Center
Instead of filling 540,00 sq ft., show will take place in meeting rooms and only have hundreds not thousands of attendants
Reason for the downgrade is because of costs for developers, attendees
Inside source says new format more productive for developers for the media to play demos
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']Good, get rid of it and replace it with a smaller show that's actually open to the public.[/QUOTE]

How would putting the show at a smaller scale while allowing MORE people to attend help? The little extra money it might make would be offset by the chaos.

You think E3s are packed NOW? Letting every retard fanboy in the door who only wants to see GTA4 would make it hopeless.


This isn't a big deal, even if E3 is toast in its current form, I'm sure the big 3 will still put on some big press conference around showtime - remember, E3 is a big deal, but the preshow press conferences are where the majority of the news comes from.
 
Well, E3 has always had a problem with most of the really interesting stuff not actually being launched till the Christmas season, it's hard to build up good exposure that far in the future for most things.

Also with increased internet usage and speeds it's easier to directly target the consumer with downloadable content like demos, videos, screenshots, wallpapers and online minigames to build hype rather than through a convention that most people will only read about.
 
[quote name='VanillaGorilla']Good, get rid of it and replace it with a smaller show that's actually open to the public.[/QUOTE]

How would putting the show at a smaller scale while allowing MORE people to attend help? The little extra money it might make would be offset by the chaos.

You think E3s are packed NOW? Letting every retard fanboy in the door who only wants to see GTA4 would make it hopeless.


This isn't that earth-shattering. Even if E3 is toast in its current form, I'm sure the big 3 will still put on some big press conference around showtime - remember, E3 is a big deal, but the preshow press conferences are where the majority of the news comes from.
 
[quote name='KaneRobot']How would putting the show at a smaller scale while allowing MORE people to attend help? The little extra money it might make would be offset by the chaos.

You think E3s are packed NOW? Letting every retard fanboy in the door who only wants to see GTA4 would make it hopeless.


This isn't that earth-shattering. Even if E3 is toast in its current form, I'm sure the big 3 will still put on some big press conference around showtime - remember, E3 is a big deal, but the preshow press conferences are where the majority of the news comes from.[/QUOTE]

Or maybe SPACEWORLD WILL RISE AGAIN!
 
I'd be ok with E3 becoming a true insiders show (no more GS/EB/BB managers) again if gaming journalism had any besides a few small websites and trade magazines. As it currently stands, the amount of fanboyism and lack of credible publications would only make it easier to put those select few deeper into the pockets of the industry.
 
PAX is already becoming the next E3. And it's going to continue to get bigger and bigger and bigger, and will begin to function solely as a place for the public to play demos. It's fast becoming that way as is, and will increase yearly. It's also the perfect time to show demos, being that an all gaming nerd public will be there.

Let everyone announce/debut everything at E3 (in whatever incarnation it takes), and then 3 months later let everyone play everything.

Then you're dividing the show into two highly important halves.

That'll prolly be what happens if this comes to pass.
 
[quote name='Strell']PAX is already becoming the next E3. And it's going to continue to get bigger and bigger and bigger, and will begin to function solely as a place for the public to play demos. It's fast becoming that way as is, and will increase yearly. It's also the perfect time to show demos, being that an all gaming nerd public will be there.

Let everyone announce/debut everything at E3 (in whatever incarnation it takes), and then 3 months later let everyone play everything.

Then you're dividing the show into two highly important halves.

That'll prolly be what happens if this comes to pass.[/QUOTE]

PAX is the only gaming event I'm actually interested in.
 
I am seriously going to try and go next year (can't this year).

If anyone else wants to join me, let me know. Or we could at least meet up.
 
[quote name='furyk']I'd be ok with E3 becoming a true insiders show (no more GS/EB/BB managers) again if gaming journalism had any besides a few small websites and trade magazines. As it currently stands, the amount of fanboyism and lack of credible publications would only make it easier to put those select few deeper into the pockets of the industry.[/QUOTE]
The point of a trade show is to sell. You need to sell not only to the customer but to the retailer. You not only need to convence the potential customer but also the retailer to sell it to the potential customer.
 
saw an interesting post on slashdot that said getting rid of E3 would give developers an extra production month for the year, since they wouldn't have to focus on pushing a demo out the door.

I think that would pay off better in the end for gamers, but I will miss the huge rush of information and the CAG chat rooms during keynote speeches :)
 
[quote name='ShimSham']Elkatas over at the Penny Arcade boards posted this and I figured I'd repost it here.

SOURCE
However, we understand the larger exhibitors have jointly decided that the costs of the event do not justify the returns, generally measured in media exposure.
[/i][/QUOTE]

Yes because 30% of the games shown at E3 never makes it to market or gets cancelled in production.
Another 60% of the games that are shown suck major balls.
Then the last 10% are good-great games.
 
It makes you wonder about the effect that E3 has over the industry. Would the Wii be as talked about as it is now if we hadn't witnessed the record-setting lines at E3? Would the PS3 have the same anti-hype around it if the Sony press conference never happened?

I'm kind of shocked that they wouldn't think to make it BIGGER and open it up to the public.
 
There is like three other events that was before E3.

E3 shows off games before they bring them to the public or is never seen again.

To be honest the most recent E3 in USA has ben the most suckiest piece of crap from Movie Stars being allowed in before it official E3 starts to people trying to break into E3 and then even stealing merchandise.

E3 barely shows off anything anymore that is worth it. The last E3 that was good was probably the E3 in 2000 and thats about it.

Without SEGA leading the American department E3 is no more then another Gay StarTrek convention that is filled to the brim with people lying there buts off along with Movie Stars and Juggies smelliing up the room.

E3 is like that scene in "Rocky III" where Rockys Trainer is trying to be serious about him getting in shape. E3 is no more then a Three Ring Circus act.
 
[quote name='RegalSin2020']There is like three other events that was before E3.

E3 shows off games before they bring them to the public or is never seen again.

To be honest the most recent E3 in USA has ben the most suckiest piece of crap from Movie Stars being allowed in before it official E3 starts to people trying to break into E3 and then even stealing merchandise.

E3 barely shows off anything anymore that is worth it. The last E3 that was good was probably the E3 in 2000 and thats about it.

Without SEGA leading the American department E3 is no more then another Gay StarTrek convention that is filled to the brim with people lying there buts off along with Movie Stars and Juggies smelliing up the room.

E3 is like that scene in "Rocky III" where Rockys Trainer is trying to be serious about him getting in shape. E3 is no more then a Three Ring Circus act.[/QUOTE]

This post hurts my brain.
 
If anything, E3 should be restricted to first/second party showings. Third party publishers shouldn't be expected to do the impossible, or at least they shouldn't show off every last one of their games. Everyone watches E3 for the pre-show press conferences which don't take place in the LA convention center anyways. The three days of "OMG FREE GAMEZ" isn't all that necessary when you think about it.
 
[quote name='daphatty']
Not sure where the next CAG meetup will be.
[/QUOTE]

As I said earlier, PAX, bitches.

Unless people want to go to Quakecon, which is something I cannot wholly recommend (though it is fun to go to).
 
I got to be honest. I never bought into the E3 hype. Its seemed like more of an insider/videogame nerd lovefest (I'm sorry if I offended anyone; I'm just speaking my mind).

If videogame companies were smart, they should show up at Comicbook conventions instead. Its the same demographic and it offers diversity to those conventions. And most importantly, its open to the public. Thats the key thing.
 
[quote name='spoo']The point of a trade show is to sell. You need to sell not only to the customer but to the retailer. You not only need to convence the potential customer but also the retailer to sell it to the potential customer.[/quote]

This is exactly why the publishers, et. al., see the shows as a waste: very few orders are written at the shows anymore. Back when CES was the big show 10+ years ago, most of the stores would place orders at the show for their Christmas buying. This stopped in the early '90's so there is little direct return that the game cos. can peg to their investment in these trade shows.

E3 did experiment with letting the public into the show for the last day awhile back (because there are way fewer attendees), but I heard lots of stuff got stolen. It happens with the trade and buying people, too, and that's why all the good stuff is shown in private meeting rooms or at hotel suites. That has been going on for awhile as well. The show has really lost most of its original purpose.

Without E3, the news will still get out somehow--likely with each company throwing its own event (which many also do now anyway). What will be missed is the dueling press conferences and the "deadline" for when we get the info. You know the big companies will let their announcement dates vary and even slip if there is no forced deadline when they must cough up at least some news that people are expecting because their competitor said something.
 
About the only thing I would miss is the huge scale press conferences. There's just something damn exciting about seeing the screen go black and hearing Zelda music just before Link owns the world and hearing the crowd erupt.

But look at the SSBB unveiling this year. Was to a small handful of journalists and it practically broke the internet. They don't need to spend 40 million on a huge fiasco for marketing to work.
 
hey, I'm goin to Quakecon with like 6 other people.

This is Nintendo's fault. Its not worth it for other exhibitors if they get all the attention!
 
WTF? Aw man, this breaks my heart! I had dreams of ONE DAY getting my ass over there.

The only bright side I can think of is there won't be the utter drought of news that follows about 1-2 months after E3.
 
[quote name='Strell']As I said earlier, PAX, bitches.

Unless people want to go to Quakecon, which is something I cannot wholly recommend (though it is fun to go to).[/QUOTE]

PAX?
 
oh well, Goodbye Lisa Gleave

IC%20Shirt%20hands%20out%201.jpg
 
Who is losing money on the event ? Don't tickets cost something like 300 bucks ? Also everytime I've been there the place is packed. And the booths are sometimes larger then my freaking house. Plus the companies are spending money on after parties and freebies.

If the companies where really hard up for money why wouldn't they cut back on promotion and have smaller booths or not show up at all ?

I figured that e3 expo was factored into the price of producing a game. Every company has money designated for promotion in their budget.

Also E3 is the largest convention here in LA, the city would have a fit if it went away. I'm sure the city and the people who run e3 would be able to find an agreement to keep the event alive.

I think this story is BS.
 
[quote name='KingDox']Also E3 is the largest convention here in LA, the city would have a fit if it went away. I'm sure the city and the people who run e3 would be able to find an agreement to keep the event alive.

I think this story is BS.[/quote]

Maybe the ESA is floating the story out there to get exactly such a response from LA. Maybe not. Either way I have a hard time believing this is true. Sure not a lot of orders get written up at E3 anymore, but the amount of hype games come away with from the show is probably worth the cost and more.

BTW am I the only one just now hearing about PAX? The fact that they've done it for two years already is news to me as well.
 
Every year we hear "We have to get new people into gaming for the industry to survive" and what do they do? Close down the biggest video game related event in the US. Sounds like the plan is right on track.
 
If it is about the cost, I say the big three come together and decide a salary cap on how much they can spend at the show. That way Sony wouldn't be dwarfed by Microsoft's huge budget or vice versa. I think that is what happened: 1uping each other year after year until it got too expensive.

If they did go into a small expo per console maker, that wouldn't help at all.
For example how much did you hear about the 360 launch in the desert or the opening of the Nintendo World store via the overall news outlets or even video game media outlets?


Also, fuck PAX! Seattle is too depressing to get excited about anything.
 
I hope they're not cutting out all the fun of E3. I'd think that all they'd need to really do is just get rid of all the people that don't belong there, like the retail kids that wanted to work at EB for this one perk, the "friend of a friend" people that have no business being there if they didn't have the connection, and the media people that got in for their crappy website but don't plan on doing actual work during E3. This is really disappointing "news" to hear and I'm hoping it's not true, at least not to the extent that the articles are putting it.
 
[quote name='spoo']The point of a trade show is to sell. You need to sell not only to the customer but to the retailer. You not only need to convence the potential customer but also the retailer to sell it to the potential customer.[/QUOTE]

A purpose E3 never really served.

The game companies got fed up with CES because they were always treated like second class citizens. But at the time E3 started there was a big down shift in the trade show business and things in general started going downhill. The dot.bomb craze put things off for a while but it was inevitable.

Small store buyer who felt they could see everything they needed on the web starting finding the shows like comdex more a hassle than a pleasure. Big retail chain buyers didn't need to attend because they dealt directly with these companies. When a handful of retail chains account for over 80% of video game sales, there isn't much need to put on a big show for what remains.

That leaves the PR side of things. Putting on your own press event at or near your own HQ is a hell of a lot less expensive. Your personnel get to sleep in their own beds instead of needing travel and hotel accomodations. The guest list is easily kept to the serious press who can afford to make the trip. (Really major press might get some help with travel expenses.) All for a fraction of the cost of E3.

The big press conferences will still happen each year. Microsoft and Nintendo will do theirs in Seattle or nearer their campus if a decent venue is available. The two are so close geographically (literally across the street from each other) they could go in together on some of the expenses and have a weekend event with a day devoted to each. Sony would use a big stage at the Culver Studios (once known as Columbia Pictures) or use one of the big sound stages elsewhere in LA.

Spend a couple hours blathering at the assembled press victims then let them spend the rest of the day playing demos and conducting interviews. Third party products may be included.
 
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