Bethesda and others

Others we talked too feel the change in date will not be an issue. Hines told us, " I don’t think it makes that much of a difference. Two months of time usually helps the developers work on what they want to show, but neither month has a big advantage over the other. Giolito told us, " don’t think it will make any difference except for the fact that the products being displayed will be in better shape as they should be approaching Alpha for Christmas release. The bigger issue is how seriously the press will treat the event, i.e., will they have the same awards as they did at E3? That was the big driving force for Publishers and Dev teams….the race for awards and their use as marketing strategies leading up to product release. If the awards still exist, then the Publishers will have no choice but to show up and compete."

And what about the new E For All Expo in October? This show is already being hyped as the true replacement for E3, at least in the US market and IDG sounds like it will spare no expense to make this new show feel more like the E3 of old. How do developers feel about E For All Expo at this moment? Pitchford told us, " have no idea what to expect with new expos or other events that are trying to re-imagine themselves as E3 changes. It’s easy to figure out what all of these expos are trying to gain, though. E3 was at risk of falling under its own gravity, so it was a good time to rethink it. Other shows, new and otherwise, lust the gravity that E3 had at its peak. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens and with what shows the gravity and value ends up being." Lakkonen told us, "It remains to be seen how a consumer focused show will do. It can be excellent as demonstrated by the Games Convention in Germany that attracted over 180 000 visitors last year." Gerritsen told us, "It depends on how well attended and perceived the first show is. E3 was an industry trade show, and any consumer level show is going to have a VERY different character entirely. In addition to the spectacle on the floor of the show at E3, you had the spectacle after hours with each publisher trying to throw super glitzy parties to impress the press and key developers. I don't foresee many publishers throwing large parties for the masses at the E For All Expo, but I could be wrong. I do think that if publishers take the same attitude about E For All Expo that they did at E3, they will stumble. Pitching your game at a live show to the gaming audience is very different than pitching your game at an industry only event. Look for some suprising missteps to be made this first year as people get used to the change."

Others we talked to were very suspect of how this new show would be handled. Baryshnikov told us, "To be very frank I sort of don't get the whole idea of the event. As far as I remember the old E3 suffered from the fact that it became too expensive for many companies. You had to spend millions and millions to build a reasonable stand or be lost. So more and more companies began pulling off the E3. And now almost the same? I know that many companies we are working with decided to pass on the first event. We will definitely be there for scouting and see how it goes, but still I would like to stress that US shows are interesting for us from B2B perspective only. Overall success of the venture depends solely on the organisers. If they make it a cheap and worth the effort show for the exhibitors - it will be successful. If they are going to charge gazillions of $ for space - not sure." Giolito added, "Oh my lord, this is going to be like one giant end-of-the-year focus group! I can see it be used to create buzz amongst hardcore fans who might show-up, but pity the poor dev teams and publishers whose games tank or get a lukewarm reception at this late date. I can see the marketing mavens scurrying around demanding changes a few days or weeks from ship….pity the poor developers." Smart has the last word on this, saying, "Probably not. As I said before, all these shows lost their luster a long time ago and it is highly - highly - unlikely that we would see a return to the good old days ever again. Remember CES? I don't either."

With the new E3 2007 just two months away it's won't be long before we learn if the new version of the show will be an improvement or a step back to the massive E3 shows of the past. We are certain that the ESA will see this first year of the new format as a kind of dress rehearsal of what the final form of the show will take in future years and will make adjustments for E3 2008. In the meantime all the publishers, developers and the press can do now is wait until mid-July to see how this new style of trade show will turn out.