NO MORE E3!

:eyebrow:

Quote:

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.

Image 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.

http://next-gen.biz/index.php?option...=3538&Itemid=2

Jam it back in, in the dark.

What the fuck.

This is horrible. E3 was always like a mini-Christmas in Spring/Summer that got us all hyped up for future games. Every year I'd anticipate downloading the latest trailers.

Again, this is horrible news. At least we have TGS.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Yeah, I just read about it. This really sucks..

I mean..how can there be a better way to spend your money..? That's so..retarded.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Well, if companies would stop making retarded games, maybe they'd get better returns from their E3 dollars.

Pretty graphics and booth babes won't win over everybody.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by JazzFlight

What the fuck.

This is horrible. E3 was always like a mini-Christmas in Spring/Summer that got us all hyped up for future games. Every year I'd anticipate downloading the latest trailers.

Again, this is horrible news. At least we have TGS.

Indeed, when E3 2005 rolled around with the first shots of the PS3 and such, I think I spent basically 6 hours infront of my computer looking over trailers for the PS3/360 over and over again, and spent a few minutes looking at the new "Revolution" back then, now known as the Wii. E3 was a fun experience because you could take part in it from the comfort of your own seat and just be amazed at streamed videos and gaming news.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by JazzFlight

What the fuck.

This is horrible. E3 was always like a mini-Christmas in Spring/Summer that got us all hyped up for future games. Every year I'd anticipate downloading the latest trailers.

Again, this is horrible news. At least we have TGS.

Unfortunately not.

TGS is being significantly downsized and merging with 2 other conventions/festivals: TIFF (Tokyo International Film Festival) & TAF (Tokyo Anime Festival) so that all 3 will form the "International Contents Festival".

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

International Contents Festival? Sounds like a giant Tupperware party.

How ya doing, buddy?

I'll believe it when I see it. E3 is the biggest gaming thing the entire year. Why bother downsizing it?

It's supposed to be a huge exhibitions for developers and people in the industry to ease up and have fun with what other people are making, not close it off to everyone with just behind the scenes meetings and shit.

Most amazing jew boots

Until an official press release comes out, or more news sites report it, I probably won't believe this article. On the official E3 site, there's already plans for next year's events, as well as nailed-down dates. We'll see what's up on Monday.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Obviously, introducing Halo 3 to the recent E3 just caused the whole thing to collapse. You can't expect any event to be able to house such a divine project and remain fully intact. Just too big. Imagine what E307 would be like once there is actually a playable portion of the game ready to go on display. Shit would be chaos.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Tube

Obviously, introducing Halo 3 to the recent E3 just caused the whole thing to collapse. You can't expect any event to be able to house such a divine project and remain fully intact. Just too big. Imagine what E307 would be like once there is actually a playable portion of the game ready to go on display. Shit would be chaos.

"This is how the world ends." more like "This is how E3 ends." am I right or am I right.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

E3 was ransacked by giant enemy crabs. Obviously people didn't attack their weak point for massive damage. A sad story if I ever heard one.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Well this is certainly a shock. E3 has always been a gathering point for me to see new and interesting games under development.

More company events eeh? That could give all those small time companies a fairer chance of exposure, since they tend to get in the shadow of bigger companies during e3. But it could turn both ways, positive or negative.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'm not surprised. I know a few writers for the gaming industry and they will tell you that e3 is hell week for them. They have to publish so much shit but can barely find the time for it and usually end up losing sleep over it. They have to wait in long lines (with people who really shouldnt even be there) just to try games etc. This will make coverage for them ALOT easier. When it comes down to it, e3 is slowly for media exposure and if it's smaller its going to be doing just that.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Cobalt Katze

Until an official press release comes out, or more news sites report it, I probably won't believe this article. On the official E3 site, there's already plans for next year's events, as well as nailed-down dates. We'll see what's up on Monday.

GameSpot had something up before next-gen.biz posted their article:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6154897.html

Quote:

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.

I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

FELIPE NO

This is unfortunate news. I'd been trying to get to E3 for years now, and to find out that it's practically canned is a major bummer. It was interesting to read about how difficult the week is for journalists, considering that was a field I was interested in entering. Fortunately I have plans to begin my own E3. I'm already making arrangements with Namco and Microsoft.

Brb, Hirai on phone.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I think this is fantastic news. Progressively throughout the years, the gaming news flow and focus has more and more exploded in summer and holiday season, seeming to barely exist any other time of year. I was not a fan of the overflow of all at once information. I didn't like that projects were made or broken from an arbitrary appearance at the event involving rushed products or missed deadlines. Companies can go back to holding press conferences for big announcements and detailed exclusives and interviews to put a focus individual projects.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Yes, these are good news. The gaming industry is past the stage where it needs an event like this to draw attention to it.

Originally Posted by Neogin

I mean..how can there be a better way to spend your money..? That's so..retarded.

I don't understand this statement/question.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Not quite, guys.

Originally Posted by Ars Technica

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.

Linkinating the countryside.

Now, this, I can agree with. It would be a disaster for the industry if E3 shattered into dozens of fragments of circle-jerk parties, mostly for people looking for contacts, jobs, or publishers. However, that is already happening to some extend with all the exclusive, closed-door parties and such going on.

Last year they already tightened the noose significantly compared to the previous year with respects to getting in easily. A lot of my friends were unable to prove their industry association, and they were people who got in without a hitch last year.

I'll wait for more news before finalising any opinion, but I approve anything that will make the lines less insane. =D

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Well it seems that nothing has been said for sure yet, but it definatly is not looking good. But I can't say that I'm too surprised that this happened with how fast the trade show has been growing over the past five years, which has been too much for the show to handle. And to make it worse is that it was pretty much the only North American gaming trade show which means that we only really have the Japanese game shows remaining.

I guess this means that we'll no longer be getting sneak peaks of hardware before it releases anymore unless TGS becomes the next E3. Which means that we'll only be seeing the stuff via Gamespot and IGN feeds.

How ya doing, buddy?

Concerning TGS, I'll just quote Simo.

Originally Posted by Simo

Unfortunately not.

TGS is being significantly downsized and merging with 2 other conventions/festivals: TIFF (Tokyo International Film Festival) & TAF (Tokyo Anime Festival) so that all 3 will form the "International Contents Festival".

So we have no more major gameshows left.

God why...

I was speaking idiomatically.

oh man I am so sad to hear this news. E3 is like my second christmas, well except I get no presents, but I spend like 5 hours a day at IGN watching and downloading videos, reading, and looking at new pics. So sad, I really hope this is just a bad rumor, but its probably true.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'm not really bothered by this all that much. If it's truly costing companies millions of dollars to put up this Westminster of gaming shows, then sure. I'd rather them spend millions of dollars a.) reducing the cost of games or b.) making games worth $60 a piece. Sorry but having a gigantic booth up for the next Finding Nemo game isn't worth it. :/

On the other hand, it'll be sad to see such huge E3 productions for Zelda, Final Fantasy, God of War, even Halo go by the wayside. But if those dollars go in to putting these games out faster and better, then by all means.

How ya doing, buddy?

Yeah 2007 would be a disaster for any other company besides bungie so they no doubt just decided to cancel it. I agree with Tube.

Anyways I will miss it I guess.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

If it's being canceled mainly for loss of money spent on boothes, couldn't they get a much larger floor space, open it to the general masses, and charge admission?

Jam it back in, in the dark.