ESA Announces Smaller E3

[Skytram]

See Gamespot (http://www.gamespot.com/news/6154935.html) for a press release from the ESA.

The new E3Expo will take shape over the next several months. As currently envisioned, it will still take place in Los Angeles, described by ESA as a "great and supportive partner helping to build E3." It will focus on press events and small meetings with media, retail, development, and other key sectors. While there will be opportunities for game demonstrations, E3Expo 2007 will not feature the large trade show environment of previous years.

In my opinion, E3 was a mess and it makes things easier on the publishers for it to be downsized.

Update: See also for discussion, Next Generation's analysis of E3's collapse (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3548&Itemid=2).

[Zanzibar]

Bleh. I really liked going to see what the Joneses were up to.

[Sloth]

I don't see how E3 was any more out of control than any trade show. I'm sad to see E3 go away, it was the geek party of the year.

[falcon]

This blows in any number of ways but I guess we'll see who decides to show up to E3 next year and who decides to do their own thing. Smaller, more frequent events are going to make it harder for sites and news organizations (i.e. newspapers and TV stations) on a budget to cover anything

[BloodPack]

Its nice to know that the guys behind E3 care enough about the industry to realize that E3 is a mess and that it needs to go back to its roots. Even though it will probably mean they will get less money in the long run.

And who knows in 5 years E3 could be scaled up again.

[Dag-Sabot]

-someone already posted this as[s] news.

[cppcrusader]

Its for the better. It'll probably end up about the size of GDC. This also qualms my fears that GDC may have possibly ended up like E3 eventually. The last couple years the average gamer has been made aware of GDC and have been expecting the same kind of news out of it that they get from E3.

[Johan]

-someone already posted this as[s] news.

QFT...we live in an echo chamber :) Hey, reds...help us out here!

[Speed_D]

Someone please, think of the booth babes!

oh the humanity :(

[SexualChoc]

And E3 as we know it is no more. A change, for the better, or for the worse?

[captainstrombosis]

Well, there goes Nerd Disneyland.

[cppcrusader]

-someone already posted this as[s] news.

To be fair I was about to say the same thing when I first saw this posted, but this one is about the official press release we've been waiting for from the ESA all day. I think it warrants its own post.

[Zanzibar]

Someone please, think of the booth babes!

Okay.


..


Thanks. I feel better now.

[earthworm48]

I can only see the time when we would get a lot of stuff on the 'net and announcements in May as being gone now. This looks like there'll be long winded things on a smaller amount of games which I'm pretty sick of now. Most developers have fuck all to say as far as I'm concerned, and I just want to hear if the up and coming games look like they will be fun nowadays.

[Mondopest]

I think the restructuring of E3 could have been done differently without losing the "super bowl"-feel that some people reference. While I agree that there needs to be a more intimate setting (minus 55000 people) for real information to flow back and forth between media and developers, I also think that the huge spectacle put the spotlight on the gaming community for at least once a year (all of our good and bads). It showed the rest of the world that we were not creepy people (well some of us ) hanging out in our basements at our PCs all day followed up with all night AD&D sessions (although..I cant say I have never done that...berserkers....mmmm...). It showed our "cool" factor a bit through alot of showmanship and flare. Now is this what E3 was suppose to be originally? No, however, it doesnt mean it was a bad thing.

I would have liked to see a bigger compromise instead, add alot more private meetings, media events, etc. Then have a couple days of exhibit and really blow the past spectacles out of the water (making sure the media captures it all on camera).

[Beelzebud]

You mean companies like 3D Realms will not have an outlet to showcase vaporware games that don't exist, using the distraction of boobies. For Shame!

[bapenguin]

-someone already posted this as[s] news.

They posted about the impending announcement.

This is the official announcement.

[falcon]

Official statement from Sony - >

"For the past 12 years, Sony Computer Entertainment has participated in the
Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) and has used it as an opportunity to
communicate to the industry and consumers our vision for gaming and
entertainment. As an ESA member, we support the board's decision to pursue
other types of events that can better address the needs of our industry and
further its growth.

As of now, SCEA has made no announcements specific to its participation in
E3 2007."

from http://www.gamingnexus.com/Default.aspx?Section=FullNews&I=2222

[MasterEvilAce]

one complaint was that the big hype machines would essentially take over E3, and the little guys' stuff didn't get much viewing.. so if they downsize it.. i'm guessing the little guys will probably end up being thrown out or something.

[pavlovscow]

I don't see how E3 was any more out of control than any trade show. I'm sad to see E3 go away, it was the geek party of the year.

Well There is always Comic-Con. Which had a surprising amount of games on display.

Not knowing exactly what the plan is, I am very disheartened. GDC has become the closed door, developer and press show. Which is not a bad place to do it, since the focus is on the developer. E3 has been about the marketing. The cheese. The sugary candy. The flashing lights. If they downgrade E3 to what GDC is, then I'll just go to GDC, since the forums are absolutely awesome!

[Mike Jaret]

Personally ive never had a great time at the show the past 6 years or so, but the social event of E3 was what i dug the most. Personally GDC has always been a better social event then GDC because of the location and the Fairmont. Well GDC is now in San Fran for the next 7 years or so, which makes GDC a lot more like E3 in terms of spreading people all around the city. Hopefully the ESA will announce soon exactly what they are planning in terms of location and scope!

[Undertakr]

I think this sucks and it's overkill. The real problem with E3 was that anyone and their brother could get in and it was too f'n loud. It SHOULD be the superbowl of video games. Game related companies should have to sign up with the ESA and based on number of employees you should get X number of free tickets, period. If you have less than 10 employees you get the number of employees if you have 10-20 employees you get 10 tickets, 20-50 employees you get 15 tickets, etc. But your company has to be a registered software developer.

Media, give em all the tickets they want if they are legit media, but each media outlet gets 4 tickets. That's a reporter, a cameraman, a lighting guy and a sound guy.

Cut the noise. We don't need bands and crap. The spectical is what E3 needs and what should stay. Dis the booth babes all you want, but they get E3 and the games that are on E3 millions of dollars of free publicity. If I had a game called "Vomit Eating" and I had a booth babe in my booth for $40 an hour and her picture "At the Vomit Eating booth" posted all over the net and TV, that's a crapload of free advertising for me. (Not that I had a booth or boothbabes, but you get the point.)

When E3 was on, it was plastered all over the TV, the news, newspapers, G4, everywhere. By killing E3, this all goes away and I think that's a huge mistake.

The problem was E3 allowing stock boys at Best Buy and friends of friends of relatives of a guy who delivers pizza to EA to get free tickets.

As part of the entertainment industry, E3 was a great way to network and find work, find contacts at the hardware companies. Unfortunately, it sounds like being in the industry isn't even going to be enough unless you're a presenter and I think that's very sad. I think there is a lot to learn and gain from our employees going to E3 and getting to talk to other companies and see games that they'd never see otherwise.

It is a sad day and I really think that while E3 needed to be redesigned, this hacking of E3 is a huge mistake.

[Dag-Sabot]

R.I.P E3, long Live E4 & 5 !

[falcon]

4 people isn't nearly enough people to cover E3 (that's what we sent last year), you're really looking at 6-8 people to do a decent job and around 10 to get most everything there.

[Undertakr]

Ok, so give media 10 tickets if they can justify them, however you have to admit, "Jimmy from Mrs. Smiths 6th grade computer class and friends" didn't need to be there. Hell, I heard of people who made up 'websites' and got free tickets as media. There was no quality control at all.

[Returner]

I am glad, less stress.

[Plays4Pants]

The Game industry itself is dying trying to keep its bloated costly egomaniac ass off the ground. Just like E3. Now, E3 is changing...cause it has to or it will die. So will games or games will die.

[SexualChoc]

Of what I have gathered from the fall out of this news is that it's trying to be 2 different things: a press show and a con. The press don't like it as there is far too much to cover, and with masses of the public there, it's even harder. The public don't like it for alot of the same reasons. And everyone is agreeing it's far too loud. Well what if they didn't have to compete any more? Rather have it 3 days, where only industry insiders and selected press outlets are allowed. Rather than apply to go to E3, have it almost invitation only, or a minimal amount of tickets for others.

Then have the con showing off pretty much everything shown at E3, along with everything else that goes with it. Have it open to the public, and let rip. It'll give the best of both worlds. The only fault is perhaps the little 'uns who may come to the con, or the people who don't know fuck all about gaming just taking up valueable space. Apparently the GameStars Live thing went that way. Solution? Age limit.

[cppcrusader]

This really is the simplest solution I think. The publishers are sick of spending outrageous amounts of money on booths, everyone says its too loud, everyone is complaining about the people who shouldn't be there, by downsizing it to its essentials every one of those problems gets solved. By cutting down on the glitz and the glam it makes it less attractive to people who don't need to be there, publishers don't spend as much on booths, and the overall noise level returns to a tolerable level.

[Skytram]

I am glad, less stress.

Totally agree with this one.

[Vermillion]

So EA has decided to take the following approach:

1st News Post - Rumor of event
2nd News Post - Rumor of impending official announcement of event
3rd News Post - Official event announcement
4th News Post - Commentary by someone offical about the offical announcement
5th News Post - Blogger has bad opinion about announcement

It's not a Slashdupe. It's an rEAdundancy!

[Cubfan]

The Game industry itself is dying trying to keep its bloated costly egomaniac ass off the ground. Just like E3. Now, E3 is changing...cause it has to or it will die. So will games or games will die.
:eek:

---------------

[Vermillion]

Games will die? Holy shit. Someone tell Death that his job description just changed to include inanimate objects. That bastard is gonna be pissed about the unpaid overtime.

[Sinistar]

it's the end of E3 as we know it...


...and I feel fine

[GammaLeak]

For anyone worried about losing the "party," I suspect it will be back, sort of. This is second-hand information, but several years ago when Gathering of Developers was still around they wanted to do even more wild stuff than E3 would let them, so they would routinely rent a place across the street from E3 and do their whole schtick. Don't be surprised if something similar or several smaller "parties" start cropping up on the outskirts.

Of course, I've never even been to E3 so... oh well...

[Skytram]

More linkage for fun times. Next Gen's Analysis of E3 collapse. (http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3548&Itemid=2)

[Beelzebud]

So EA has decided to take the following approach:

1st News Post - Rumor of event
2nd News Post - Rumor of impending official announcement of event
3rd News Post - Official event announcement
4th News Post - Commentary by someone offical about the offical announcement
5th News Post - Blogger has bad opinion about announcement

It's not a Slashdupe. It's an rEAdundancy!

When you set up a website, work on it for years, and pay for everything, you can decide how you want to print the news. Deal?

[Vermillion]

Deal.

However, I'm not going to apologize for not dawning my fanboy cloak and running around screaming "EA can do no wrong".

Originally it was just sarcasm. Then I saw the 3rd post in two days on the smaller E3 a couple posts above this one. Life is stranger than fiction...