Following yesterday's blog confirmation has come through that E3, previously the world's largest and most important videogame event, has been downsized/rebranded/obliterated. The new event, which aims to attract 5000 rather than the usual 60,000 visitors, will be held in a hotel rather then the LA Convention Centre and focus on media and meetings. While he avoided the obvious reason for this - EA and the other big publishers pulling out due to the cost - Doug Lowenstein, president of the organising company, did mange to spin something positive out of it.
Of course, this all sounds great in theory. But in reality the large events that will be held by the big publishers are likely to dominate media attention thus negating any supposed benefits from the new E3. It looks like Tokyo and the increasingly important Leipzig event (at the end of August) will be where announcements are made, with smaller events, such as London's Game Market, finding a niche. You could argue, of course, that the games industry is more confident in itself these days - games are bigger than Hollywood etc - and therefore has less need for brash statements of intent. But, let's face it, E3's collapse was down to high costs rather than over confidence. Now if only we could get a decently sized event in the UK, maybe along similar lines to ECTS circa 1999. We can dream eh?
Some companies were frustrated because E3 was such a huge, sweeping event it became increasingly difficult to get their messages out.
