The evolution of E3

The evolution of E3

OPINION

I considered myself lucky to be able to actually attend E3 this past year, now I feel that way more so, knowing that the grand spectacle that is E3 is going away. It will be the end of E3 as we know it, but not the end of E3 completely.

I considered myself lucky to be able to actually attend E3 this past year, now I feel that way more so, knowing that the grand spectacle that is E3 is going away. It will be the end of E3 as we know it, but not the end of E3 completely. The public perception of E3 is filled with lights, sounds and hype from media coverage both internet and televised, such as G4 coverage. If you look at it from a professional point of view, it was never intended to be this way. It was intended to be an industry symposium, much like I attend with my company several times through out the year where several defense and contracting companies gather to show off their newest developments and try to network and market. The original intention for E3 was no different. It was after the explosion of the video game industry when E3 started to attract attention far and wide that game companies had to out do themselves each year. If I was a CEO of a game developing company, I wouldn't want to have to shell out millions just to live up to trumped up hype either. The lights, the sounds and the girls all came after E3 hit mainstream. Since E3 is also supposed to be an industry only trade show, these elements shouldn't even have to be involved. I'm sure the original image of E3 was intended to be a business to semi-business environment geared for media and to be a forum for publishers and developers alike to show off a bit. I'm quite confidant this is the image they are planning to return too. If they cut the hype and cut the over played media coverage as if it was a major sporting event, then it will be back to business as usual. Of course it will take a few years of "bland" E3s for it to be forgotten by the public.

What does this all mean for gamers? Not a whole lot to be honest. Games will still be developed and the “Big Four” (Nintendo, Sony, MS, and EA) will still rape our wallets in order to play there new titles. At absolute worst, they will pull out of E3 leaving only a small representation of themselves next year. E3 is still an industry trade show, so it would be bad form for them not to show up at all. They will simply for go the spending of a million or two on displays. What will happen though, is smaller lesser known developers will actually get some face time for once. When E3 rolls in, the Big Four steal the show simply because they have the capital to do so. Mean while, you have smaller developers that get completely overlooked and never mentioned.

The site map of E3 is a great example of this. Three of the Big Four by themselves take up most of the main show room. This leaves smaller developers in the dark corners. During my time there, I had several conversations with small, often European developers, about E3 and some of them actually admitted that they were not only lucky to have made it, but with the poor response, they were not even going to bother coming back next year. E3, in the public eye, has become the Nintendo, Sony, MS, EA Expo! That is all the public cares about and it is now finally having a negative affect on the rest of the expo exhibitors. Looking at it from this perspective, this might be a good turn of events for the industry as a whole. Imagine how many “lesser” titles may have launched a bit stronger if the media wasn’t so preoccupied with what the Big Four were up too. There is so much to see and even more to do when you factor in interviews that the 3 or 4 days almost isn’t enough of time, never mind adding in the hour to two hour wait just too see each of the new “Next Gen” systems behind a plastic case!

A beneficial side effect by all this is that media may receive extra attention now. I'm sure E3 will still be covered and televised, but with a toned down professional environment, it will be more about the private viewings, interviews and press meetings and less about when the Namco girls are going back on stage(not that it was a bad thing). Face it, right now the video game industry has a bad public image, and an annual event that resembles a week long party with nothing but loud music, video games and boobs just doesn’t help the issue much. With the energy and resources applied to other industry professionals and media instead of the taking care of the mob who are only looking for the hottest booth babe, potential of more one on one time with developers will offer a better information flow through out the entire industry and media alike.

Don’t take any of this the wrong way, I will truly miss the spectacle of E3 that we have grown to expect over the last several years. However, when you arrive at E3 in semi business attire and you are standing in line next to an attendee barely old enough to be out of school wearing a sleeveless tee shirt, frayed jeans and sandals, that serves as an indication that something terribly is wrong and this industry trade show is being taken much too casually. Even though change will not likely be well accepted by the public, from a professional standpoint, change and reformation is well over due.