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E3 Will Be Downsized, Not Cancelled

arstechnica.com — Contrary to reports across the web, E3 has not been cancelled. Next-Gen had hoped that they would blow the lid off of a hot story by revealing that the show had been cancelled, but some quick fact checking shows that they are simply incorrect.

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  • Kaji, on 10/12/2007, -0/+28Really hope it isn't canceled. Still haven't gotten to go yet.
    • TheAttacks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15Me either, I'd love to go to E3 some year.
    • electromagnetic, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I hope it it'll be bigger again for the next one (not the one coming up, the one after) as I was planning to try and get there for that. You've got to be in the 'biz' for it btw, and it looks like it's going to get even tighter and go back to grass roots. No doubt this will mean axing a lot of booth babes positions, but quite frankly if I was going for scantly clad women there's this thing called porn and if people're that desperate there's this thing called the red light district.

      It sounds like they're trying to do away with all the crap they've introduced over the years to wow people, and will be getting back to sitting journalists down to get a play of the games while letting the business guys network. Then there'll be all the press talks and the mixing and what not, personally I'd much prefer this over this years E3. It looked more like a theme park than an expo.
    • thatbox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12I need it to stay big so all my internet friends and I can meet up at least once a year guaranteed :(
    • electromagnetic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@thatbox

      If your friends are game journalists, media, or in game-dev then you'll be able to if you book early. If you're not then you're probably the people they're trying to rout out. Although they may just be trying to make it so everyone gets a fair hearing at it as it was the big three who got all the attention this year, which no doubt pissed off all the little guys big time.
    • shaun944, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm not surprised, E3 and Siggraph have become so close in many regards because the game technology is pretty much the same as the graphic design technology at this point and in the end it is supposed to be an industry event similar to Siggraph. Siggraph in fact has shrunk in its floor show in the last few years as E3 was getting bigger. I can see the companies perhaps moving their focus back towards Siggraph where the focus is really on the spread of the hardware and software breakthroughs and new techniques. I think the first sign was the registration process for E3 this past year, they made a big effort to keep the consumers from attending.

  • TheG2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9E3 is nothing but a giant line now...and whats this, Next-Gen wrong about things? Noo...it can't be...
    • bullethead, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This years was actually quite enjoyable, last year however was terrifyingly cramped from what my friends tell me. The year before that it was quite obvious more and more people were getting in. But again, this year wasn't quite terrible.
  • kob0724, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13My guess is thats why they had the line in the original digg post "will not exist IN ITS CURRENT FORM"
    • Sentientv2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1NextGen did state that if it were to exist, it wouldn't be in it's current form. It's like taking a Wal-Mart Supercenter and only selling groceries
  • HPSauce, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Ha, I thought next-gen was turning out to be next Gamesindustry.biz... the authority on industry news... turns out it's becoming another Kotaku...
  • gmerin, on 10/12/2007, -25/+2will "down-sized" mean that next year's show will only host Microsoft and Halo 3?
    • Yokai, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9You are retarded. No offence but god...
  • Brak710101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Well, a Blizzard Entraintment employee said the roumor of the show being canceled has been going around for a year now, so its not like Next-Gen is totaly wrong.
  • masamunecyrus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3"Next-Gen had hoped that they would blow the lid off of a hot story by revealing that the show had been cancelled, but some quick fact checking shows that they are simply incorrect."

    That sounds like a frantic fanboyish statement. Next-Gen.biz didn't say that it would be canceled -- at least, not in the way that everyone is saying. Apparently, most people didn't read the entire article.

    "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."

    They said that E3 as we know it is gone. They mentioned that it may be downsized, but it would be nothing like it was before.

    Gamespot has also been reporting on it as well:
    http://www.gamespot.com/news/6154897.html
  • Survivor303, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1how many times these events just not opened... *duh* who cares, we have lots of nice and fast web pages where we get the latest information all kind of stuff, games and hardware, some places have a stream video & audio and demo download sections so..
    • loriencfau, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Uh, those website got their info from the show floor. Duh.
  • omgwut, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I'm glad this is the case. As much as I love E3, I do not like the booth babes, the pulsating lights, or all of the stupid, quirky gimmicks that cost the expo millions of unnecessary dollars each year. I know that games aren't the same as movies, but the industry is an expanding and increasingly mainstream one, and it wouldn't hurt to do away with alot of the childish, gimmicky stuff that really is the face of the business for many people who are not familiar with it.

    I want E3 to focus more on the substance and content, on the actual games, and it looks like this is what is being done.
  • Computer_Kid, on 10/12/2007, -9/+4Still no booth babes! :-(
  • edwardscherf, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0I really don't think they will cancel it. I mean when you think about it from a financial aspect, E3 is one of the biggest, if now the biggest money makes for game developers and designers there is. If you want to make it in gaming, get your stuff shown at E3, and if they can't because it is canceled, everyone is going to suffer a huge financial blow below the belt.
  • ActiveMatx, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1Whats wrong with it being big? Make it bigger I say!

    I want games to become MORE popular, and by making E3 smaller, it makes games, I guess, better, but less popular.

    It makes them better because a lot of companies spend too much time "preparing for E3" as opposed to making the game good. If they dont have to waste time on E3, they can concentrate on the game.

    But E3 is a big marketing tool, and by downsizing it, it will make it less popular.
    • Alegis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think they can manage working on a game and presentation at the same time without hurting the dev process that much.

      E3 inspires them to put in some breathtaking stuff to present
  • ActiveMatx, on 10/12/2007, -10/+0Whats wrong with it being big? Make it bigger I say!

    I want games to become MORE popular, and by making E3 smaller, it makes games, I guess, better, but less popular.

    It makes them better because a lot of companies spend too much time "preparing for E3" as opposed to making the game good. If they dont have to waste time on E3, they can concentrate on the game.

    But E3 is a big marketing tool, and by downsizing it, it will make it less popular.
    • electromagnetic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"I want games to become MORE popular, and by making E3 smaller, it makes games, I guess, better, but less popular."

      Games will become more popular, because it'll only be business people going to it. The people who should be in it, which means the journalists WILL get to get their hands on them, which means more people will be told how good the games are which will end up making them more popular.

      It also means the games will be made better, because instead of people dealing with 'the public' they'll actually be making connections in the market. That means more developers will be able to switch between companies more easily, which means better games get made. Only good can come from this!
  • BasouKazuma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Well, there's still the TGS (Tokyo Game Show). Maybe that will get bigger to compensate. ;)
    • miyukijane, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0there's been speculation since two years ago that TGS is also headed for a reformatting, if not an outright cancellation.
  • Vantrax, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1They are basically just trying to make E3 the DEVELOPERS event it used to be instead of a gamers convention. The focus will be back to improving the games and demonstrations of new technologies instead of catering to the random fan-kiddies that keep showing up.

    As for the lack of publicity there will still be a lot of publicly... the press can still get in. That's how most people learn about what happened at E3 anyway.
  • wilf_brim, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2What is probably going to happen is that E3 is going to get much smaller, and much harder to get into. If that happens, then it almost threatens its own reason for being. If it becomes small and closed, the press and public interest gets much smaller, which is the entire point of the show. If they go with the "downsized" E3, it won't last more than a year or two.
  • ShaggyD, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I attended the 98, 99 E3 convention at the Congress Center in Atlanta when it was "cool". You could get in even if you didn't work in the industry. I have my pic of Gillian Anderson promoting the X-Files game...sweet. 1999 was a bit more of a challenge.
    Ever since it moved to LA in 2000, I just got all the news from the web, blogs and now G4. They had an awesome 12 hours of coverage LIVE in May.
  • dudinatrix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2E3 is like another Christmas to gamers...at least, it was to me. I look forward to the three big conferences more than anything. I cringe thinking that it may not be the same ever again. On the bright side, maybe we can expect more news spread throughout the year, rather than breaking the seal all at once.. surrounded by excruciating silence.

    Either way, I'm glad the Wii had such a great showing on what could be the last of the great E3s.
  • trunkster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Hey, as long as they have a show where game companies come together to show their best off, it's good. All the other stuff doesn't even effect people who can't go the show anyway.
  • edburton6801, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I've been to E3. It was a blast, and I'll never forget that experience. It was a bit "overkill", but that's part of what made it fun for guys like me who didn't actually have to do and WORK at E3. A buddy got tickets for me.

    I have some friends who work in the industry... and E3 is almost something they dread every year. They love it, but they hate it even more.

    That said, I think that if E3 doesn't ulitmately GROW the industry and help everyone to get more exposure and profit OVERALL... then what's the point.

    If not having an E3 means better games and a healthier gaming industry for those developing and publishing games... then E3 should die.

    I'll miss it, but I understand why it might need to go. Plus, there's GDC and the tokyo game show, and who knows what other events might sprout up without E3 in the way sucking up all of the publicity.
    • ilyag, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Doesn't it make you feel all warm and fuzzy knowing that people like you are the reason E3 is getting downsized?
  • Seizure, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Im hoping that all this means is that only press and industry insiders will get in. Frankly, I'd love to go to E3 as much as anyone, but I don't think the presence of people who only come to get an advanced look at some games and leave are helping the industry at all. If you want in, put up a website that actually reports on this stuff and don't just say you have a family blog that you could put it on. Having so many people just weighs down the entire convention.
  • SonicEntropy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0I woke up this morning and saw the news on xboxscene, I was devistated for me its more than a show its a way of catching up with old friends in California. Even downsizing it may not be worth the ticket from Australia to see.
  • xcwarrior, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Ah, got to love bad journalism! Maybe that means there is a job opening for me, b/c not checking on facts deserves a good firing!
  • greedycheese, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The next-gen article said E3 would probably still exist in name just downsized. They just rightly said that It will be E3 in name only.
  • thewhitefedora, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I should start my old gaming blog back up.....I still get e-mails wanting me to do reviews.
  • chaskell, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Thank God.

    I'm just going to echo my comments I made in the other thread and say that E3 would be better for everyone (even the consumer at home) if E3 access was strict. No more BestBuy/EB/Gamestop employees. Keep it to game devs, publishers, and press. It will be such a better show.

    If you don't believe me, take a look at where Spore was announced: Game Developers Conference. GDC. They have much tighter access and much less sparkle and dazzle. Because of that you get stuff like Will Wright's hour long speech on Spore and it's development. No one does this sort of thing at E3 because E3 is very OMGFFXII!!!HL2!!!OMGSQUARESTOFTNINTEDOISONYXBOX!!!!

    It is annoying. Game Devs hate it. Make devs happy and they will make you happy.
    • Alegis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1There was a pretty darn long Spore speech/pres at E3 as well, with Robin Williams' hilarious comments.
  • Soniti, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2There was a time where it was like it's going to be again. I'm glad for it, E3 got way too commercialized, and that made me angry because it became more about presentation than networking, which is what E3 was made for in the first place.

    ~Soniti
  • diargasm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just seeing all the lines for Nintendo Wii made me realize how unnecessarily big the show was. Just don't allow retail employees to go there and keep it for people that actually work in the industry.
  • Qtip42, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Darn, now who do I advertise my blingin' custom cases to? I was totally into them spending millions on booth stuff. :D
  • goggleBOX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is a really good move. I am sick of the pre/post E3 rubbish that every man and his dog blogs about. I can never find useful information about products at E3 because they let anyone in and then everyone goes out and dribbles on their keyboard. Limit the show to senior industry devs and journalists/bloggers with at least 100,000 a day viewers/visitors.
  • bethanyb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Along with many gamers, I've always dreamed to go to E3. This is kinda disappointing, ya know? I just hope "downsizing" doesn't ruin the experience.
  • o0joshua0o, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3What's really called for here is the division of E3 into two separate shows. One for developers and the press, and one as a sort of gamers' convention. The first should be quiet, businesslike, and in-depth, with highly restriced access, while the second is fun, flashy, hands-on, and open to the general public. This way we get the best of both worlds.
    • Fabozz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Your wish is granted. The first is called GDC, the second is called PAX.
  • jschuur, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Official announcement:

    http://digg.com/gaming_news/ESA_Announces_Evolution_of_E3Expo_for_2007
  • SlyCooper360, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Sony and EA were going to pull out because it cost them like $15million. its a good and bad thing that this happened. developers were always rushed to get an e3 demo out. look at the halo dvd they spent all that time on the demo and didnt have anything to so for it except me pissed because it took so long to come out. its good because they dont need to rush on games but bad because i like all the announcements that are made. tgs will be the new e3 but its in japan so that sucks. JAPAN ROCKS!
  • maesterxen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Yeah i agree with alot of the posts that its good and bad. Developers don't have o spend heaps of time and money making so many all out demos and booths etc, and can spend more time/money on the games. Although i am very annoyed because i never got to go, i was planning to go when im older.....
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