Tektodo

Gamespot recently posted a story stating that several major game publishers have recently announced their withdrawal from E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, as well as from the ESA (Entertainment Software Association), the organization behind E3.  E3 used to be the largest gaming show of the year, but as of late, has been scaled down considerably and has been going through somewhat of an identity crisis.  E3 used to be the venue where major game announcements were made, but due to the change in when the expo is held (summer instead of spring), many companies have moved away from the E3-mentality and have started making announcements at other shows and, oftentimes, private summits put on by the companies themselves.

Last year, the expo was held in Santa Monica, California, but will be returning to its traditional Los Angeles Convention Center setting this year.  Some of the publishers who have announced their withdrawal from this year’s show include Activision/Vivendi, NCsoft and Foundation 9.  Activision/Vivendi also announced it would be withdrawing from the ESA.  We also won’t be seeing anything from Blizzard, since the popular development studio behind World of Warcraft was recently bought by Activision.

It will be interesting to see if any other publishers follow suite and announce their intentions to skip the show.  E3, a show that had upwards of 60,000 participants just a couple of years ago, has been considerably changed, to the point that last year, only 5,000 people were in attendance, and by invitation only.  One of the reasons E3 decided to change its format was because the shows were becoming too unweildy, too loud, too glitzy.  The show was becoming so large and crowded that it was difficult for people to even hear the games on display.

With the downsizing of the show, it was hoped that developers would be able to show off their games without as many distractions.  While last year’s E3 certainly was devoid of the booth babes, blaring music and raucous crowds of past shows, it seems as though there is still quite a bit of work left to be done.  Perhaps E3 isn’t even needed anymore.  For many companies, it is much cheaper, and oftentimes more effective, to simply hold a small media summit where new products are announced, than to set up a display at E3.  What do you think?  Do you think large trade shows are a thing of the past, or do you think they still play an important role in the video game industry?

Whatever happens with the future of E3, one thing’s for sure; this year’s E3 will certainly be interesting.