RSSE3 in turmoil as game publishers skip event
By Ed Oswald | Published May 5, 2008, 11:39 AM
Once the premier video game conference, E3 is now losing major publishers with Activision saying it will take a pass.
Vivendi -- which owns Activision -- will also drop out of the Entertainment Software Association for "business reasons." Instead of being at E3, the company will have its own event at its Santa Monica headquarters during the show.
E3 will take place from July 15th through the 17th this year, according to the ESA.
While there have not been any public statements pointing to a specific reason, part of the problem may be the ESA's new president.
Mike Gallagher replaced Doug Lowenstein last year, and is reportedly not well liked by many of the member companies. Gallagher helped spearhead the transformation of E3 from a massive event that attracted 60,000+ attendees to a small invite-only event.
E3 will move back to the Los Angeles Convention Center this year, but will remain closed to the public. It may be that game publishers do not feel this smaller format is worth the time and effort to plan and execute.
Activision is not the only one to drop out of this year's E3. NCsoft and Foundation 9 have also decided not to exhibit at the show, and id Software has apparently also begun to waver in its commitment.
DUH, you'd have to be a moron not to know that was going to happen. For fcks sake
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|Its sad how E3 has gone from being such an excitement a few years ago to nearly nothing today.
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|I was in the game biz for many years an E3 was a time to see everyone's up coming games and share with fellow designers. Then the suit's got involved then they started having closed door viewing's of game's. It got to the point that know company want to show there games on the floor so everyone could see. Everything became a big secret about games in design production. So there is no longer a reason to have a show that only shows games allready on the store shelf
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|Most of the meetings and video games I previewed at the last "real" E3 were in closed door meetings, which I found very strange. I understand seeing games like BioShock in closed doors only, but even video games I never heard of were also being previewed for small groups. It is not surprising that most casual attendees never realized that the game was even there...
What was ironic was the number of people who managed to fake their credentials to get into the show. I met a few people whose web site didn't exist (and it took me 30 seconds to check), but they still managed to easily get a press pass into the show.
E3 was one of my favorite conventions to attend, and I was sad to see it meets its demise. :(
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|I've never attended E3, but I can imagine that taking an event like this away from the people that spend $4000 on gaming systems and $40-$70 on games can't make them, NOR the people that cater to them happy. I mean, who exactly is the show 'for' if not for the general public to get excited about games and gaming hardware?
Why is he doing it? What reason could he possibly have to close the event to the public? Costs? Concerns?
Ah well. Maybe they'll get someone else that can clean up his mess and fix what he's broken.
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|Exact same thing that happened to Comdex. When you take a huge public event for a decade, and then close it to the public, the vendors will have zero reason to attend it. Sponsoring these events cost companies 100's thousands. Why even bother when you have limited audience? Mike Gallagher is an idiot. He's managed to kill E3 and his own job in the process of doing so.
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|Not surprising - the whole convention attitude has changed drastically with the decline of both the advancement of technology and the wow factor that goes with it not to mention the most likely absurd rental rates for companies to rent floor space which are most likely 1000%-5000% higher then they should be.
This goes for other tech based conventions such as NAMM, CES and others - The 'Hey Day' has long gone and the need to congregate to 'show off' is over.
Vivendi is correct in producing more of an 'appreciative' event so as to not dilute their presence nor their pocketbook.
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|I've attended E3 twice back in 1999 and 2001. Back then it was something to be experienced. Attending that event actually made you believe more in gaming industry.
Now it's turned alot of people away by only inviting a small amount of people. The word of mouth about E3 certainly isn't what is used to be. When Activision leaves E3 as well as other companies not attending that's pretty big. It basically says, we'll make our money without E3. When E3 used to be all about getting people excited about your game. It's not that anymore.
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|Good. E3 is insanely expensive and not open to the public. Games aren't purchased only by IT people. I was able to get in only once 4 or 5 years ago so I'm bitter.
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