Fewer frills at E3 trade show
By May Wong
Associated Press
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The video game industry's largest annual trade show, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, will be scaled down dramatically next year amid industry desires for a more intimate setting, organizers said yesterday.
"This is not a wake or a funeral. It's about changing E3 to meet the modern needs of the industry," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the Entertainment Software Association, the trade group that operates the show.
The glitzy three-day extravaganza in May drew about 60,000 attendees and 400 exhibitors spread across 550,000 square feet of exhibit space. It was almost double the size of the inaugural show 12 years ago and had evolved — as have some other large trade shows — into more of a spectacle than an event conducive for dealmaking and meetings.
"There was a lot of glitter and splashy competition," Lowenstein said. "That's fun for people walking around, but it doesn't emerge as a productive way of three days to conduct business."
After years of consideration, the trade group's 16-member board of directors unanimously approved the overhaul last week, Lowenstein said. Board members include representatives from the biggest players in the industry: Sony Corp., Nintendo Co., Electronic Arts Inc., Microsoft Corp. and THQ Inc.
Details are still being worked out, but some of the known changes are:
The trade show will aim to provide a setting for "high-quality" meetings with media, developers, retailers and other key audiences, Lowenstein said.
The new format should also help reduce the costs for participating companies at a time when game development and marketing costs have increased and other video game trade shows have cropped up around the world.
