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 likely that the ESA will seek to limit the damage by organizing some form of lesser event in May, possibly even with the E3 brand, but this will be no more than a fig-leaf. The days of an industry event attended by all the major publishers, spending big money, are gone.
This news sort of look bad for the smaller publishers like Atlus and NIS. Maybe Nintendo, Sony, and MS could help by hosting the smaller 3rd-party companies games in their shows, hypothetically speaking.
They probably won't though. My guess is GDC or CES is just going to get bigger, or everyone big company will just start throwing their own 'Blizzcon' kinda thing like Blizzard did.
My guess is GDC or CES is just going to get bigger
CES used to be E3 before there was E3. I've been told--pornography always being at the front of new technology--CES was basically one big smut ring, even when it was still the big show for new Nintendo games. They ought to do something like what Nintendo does in Japan, where it's totally open to the public, and throw all the business/news stuff to something else. I don't think the way game news is reported these days a big event like E3 really makes that big a difference to most people, besides lumping a lot of new game information around the same time of year, especially considering the only screens game magazines ever seem to show anymore are the ones game developers GIVE to them.
I'm torn between the two major options here. On one hand, individual companies could hold their own events and have them open to the public, which would be cool but also really uncool, considering how bad E3 already was with lax security.
On the other hand, it would be neat if the press conferences became even more media-exclusive and this somehow improved the state of game journalism.
E3 has been nothing but a big, noisy fanboy convention for the past few years anyway. Its value as a trade show has long since been defeated by the internet.
Okay so the returns aren't there for them to see planly, but really, do we care? Not really. Media giants like Sony and Microsoft have megabucks to throw away. I say let 'em pay for it. I personally like having E3 being held each year. It's kind of like the Wrestlemania (taboo words here!) of the gaming industry. It's about the only place in the world where you can see all three of the big developers in the same area.
However on the flip side I hate how Sega was treated the year of the Dreamcast launch. They had a huge celebration, parties, concerts, drinks. And for what? To be scorned! FOR SHAME ON THE PUBLIC!
Still, that kind of party would be neat to bear witness to. It's a shame people won't be able to experience anymore. And an excellent point was brought up: I worry about smaller developers. It was a chance to show all the first-party companies what they had to offer all at the same time. I dunno...kinda just like having games on multiple platforms.
For those who get all of their news from this forum, here's the official announcement. It isn't going away completely. They're just making it more "intimate."
