Matti Robinson
1 Aug 2006 2:31
The Entertainment Software Association has announced the next step of "evolution" for Electronic Entertainment Expo. E3 will transform from a over 60,000 person pilgrimage to a small "Media Festival" expecting not more than 5,000 crowd. Decide yourself whether you call this evolution or not.
The Expo won't die, at least that is what ESA and the president of ESA, Douglas Lowenstein says, “E3Expo remains an important event for the industry and we want to keep that sense of excitement and interest, ensuring that the human and financial resources crucial to its success can be deployed productively to create an exciting new format to meet the needs of the industry. The new event ensures that there will be an effective and more efficient way for companies to get information to media, consumers, and others." Call it Media Festival, but it will lack the media, more of less of it. The huge trade show environment, which has become a trademark of E3 will no longer exist, the next years Media Festival will host only "small meetings with media, retail, development, and other key sectors."
ESA has decided to continue to hold the show in Los Angeles, but the enormous Los Angeles Convention Center has been changed to one or more hotels. Also the traditional date in May will be changed, Lowenstein confirms, the Media Festival will be held in July, but the exact date has not yet been set. The reason behind is that the publishers didn't want to rush their holiday releases and this will give them a month or two more time.
Why downsize the event? The more people, the more money? Lowenstein simply said that the Expo had become such a gigantic event that huge amount of entertainment related information was never heard. Another reason was mentioned, a rising number of major electronic entertainment events in different regions of the world as well as company-specific event, such held by Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, are being held, which makes the E3 less necessary and less efficient.
Source: Press release