E3 cancelled? (EDIT: Never mind.)

[Daikun]

Senior industry sources have revealed to Next-Gen.Biz that the E3 industry event, in its present form, has been cancelled for next year and the foreseeable future.

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.

Calls to ESA staff are not being returned at present.

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?op...=3538&Itemid=2

[Daikun]

It turns out the info is wrong.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060730-7382.html

It's not cancelled; it'll just be downsized. Never mind.

[EisigerBiskuit]

Hur hur.

[Trash]

Well that sure was stupid.

[Chojin]

It'd be incredibly stupid for e3s to not continue as they are - e3 is the gaming industry's equivalent to the super bowl and is responsible for much of the mainstream press and therefore the industry's common awareness.

In other words, companies also pay millions for super bowl ads. Not because their sales SPIKE SO MUCH THAT IT'S INSTANTLY WORTH IT YESSSS but because it's a status thing and it's an awareness thing. Being at E3 is the same for a company. Moving it back underground will set the industry back a few years.

[timrpgland]

Decreasing it sucks but this won't set the game industry back. Most gamers use the internet.. They'll just find more creative ways for anouncing "big things".

TGS and E3 will stick around.. in whatever forms.

[Marc Summers]

I know that they downsized it for this year's E3. A lot of my coworkers saw that they actually had personal space, and they hear each other talk without yelling. They cracked down hard this year, with my company almost not getting in until the president went off on them.