Zoned in

E3 is not gone, but it will not be as it once was
By Michael Lafferty

What was once a cacophony of sight and sound is no more, but the trade show will survive. With that in mind, it is time to look back

It was first rumored on the weekend and now has come the announcement that the annual event in Los Angeles, the Electronic Entertainment Expo – otherwise known as E3, is no more as the mega trade show that it was for 12 years. The announcement, on a personal level, was greeted with a mixture of happiness, sadness and the sense that the warning signs were in place long before this weekend that something had to change.

E3 was, for some, the mecca of the video-game industry. For others, it was a week-long headache that could be counted on every May. There was the logistics issue, schedules that were subject to change at the last minute, and a myriad of other issues during which journalists would scurry about for stories and then try to make them sound different than the other thousand-plus media outlets who got the same information. It was gigantic, and drifting farther from the information font it was supposed to be. It seemed the event was becoming a contest of noise and visual displays over substance. That is going to change. E3 will survive, but not in the form that it once boasted. According to Douglas Lowenstein, president of the ESA, the trade association representing U.S. computer and video game publishers as well as the owner of E3Expo: “Over the years, it has become clear that we need a more intimate program, including higher quality, more personal dialogue with the worldwide media, developers, retailers and other key industry audiences.”

Details are still being worked out. The final form of the next expo has not yet been determined. One thing that is certain, though, is that what once was is no more. Having been to half of the shows, and in the wake of the announcement, it came time to take a look back at what E3 used to be and what it had become ...

The memories are still tangible, still robust and flavored with wonder. The first time walking into South Hall in the Los Angeles Convention Center, to be assaulted with the concert of lights, action and sound hurtling from the Electronic Arts booth, with the hint of more wonders casting dancing light shows against the ceiling and beckoning like presents under the tree on Christmas morning.

That was my first taste of E3.

How many years has it been since those first few steps? Six? Not counted so much in terms of games, but by the number of different hotels stayed in, or by the parties attended (and concert acts seen), or even by the ‘swag’ or t-shirts still loitering about my home.

The games have come and gone; some made it, many more didn’t.

In discussing this story with GameZone News Editor Steven Hopper, he suggested it as an obit. Ok, to take that journalistic approach …

“Obesity is a problem in this country and in the end, it may have claimed another victim – E3. The Electronic Entertainment Expo was a lethargic monster, a money sink, sprawling about for three days, marked by the frenetic pacing of its subcultures, housing enough technology to wipe out the power supply of a third-world nation, and luring the attention of every video-game entity from the publishers and developers through world media to the fans of games.”

E3 was many things, from the personal perspective – from the improbably beautiful women at the various booths to the weariness of trudging through the corridors and halls to the evening parties that were an excuse to dull the pain of legs and cramps of hands poised with pen to jot down notes that were later translated onto a keyboard. It was a blur of titles, of stories that taxed the mind as one tried to make what amounted to rhetoric sound new and different with each article. The writing became formulaic in the days of the show - despite the best intentions otherwise, and you could easily spot the veterans of the affair, shoulders slumped, eyes downcast as they pushed through gawking crowds to get to the next appointment.

The displays were amazing, and there was always the chance to wander about and perhaps find an innocuous little display that housed a rare find.

In regards to the latter, it may well be that those who created that rare find would have been the ones hurt most by a decision to totally cancel the event. Let’s face it – the decision came down to money. The big companies saw that their games were being lost in the miasma of stories generated from the event, and balanced it against the expenditures.

They reasoned they could better spend the money on smaller media events where the single publisher was the star of the event and all the information coming out would be about them alone. In that regard, they are likely right and will do well without E3. More value, from the journalistic perspective, was often garnered at the pre-E3 events anyway.

The big companies would not have been hurt if the event was totally canceled. Not at all. They have the resources to organize their own events. No, the ones who would have suffered would have been the small publishers and developers who scrounged up enough to get a booth off to the side of the carnival’s midway, but showcased a game or piece of hardware that was a gem nonetheless. Also count among those who would have been hit hard the small media outlets that are not big enough to get invites to the (presumably) forthcoming solo publisher events, and don’t have writers in the hubs for these events or the budget to get writers there. The prospect of canceling E3 would have been a business decision that may have had a somewhat negative industry impact down the road.

The hope, of course, is that should E3 become more "intimate" as Mr. Lowenstein suggests, should it do away with the massive display costs and allow companies to not have to deal with budgeting the huge cost of E3's glamour, perhaps we may see more financial resources turned back into the products flowing out, with the benefit coming in the final product itself.

From the personal standpoint, I will not miss the event as it was. I will not miss fighting through the crowds, fighting to find a place to write stories, dealing with the variances of the event (like power outages, media lunches than ran out of food when others grabbed more than one boxed lunch, trying to juggle a schedule that was set only to be spoiled with contacts were “running late” with other appointments).

What I would have missed, though, would have been the people. E3 provided an opportunity to see people I deal with all year long, face-to-face, but it also was the chance to meet new people – intelligent, gifted and creative individuals from throughout the world who shared a common vision when it came to conveying an idea that was imaginative, challenging and entertaining.

Video games are interactive books and movies, tales in which the player is the star of the story. In that sense, E3 was a library and a dream factory where what could be took its first few steps toward realization.

Yes, there will be other shows, other conventions and events (GDC and Comic Con are already doing well) but E3 was the icon that topped the pinnacle of the convention tower. The prospect of not having to endure another was a bit of a relief, to be certain, but there is also some sadness there as well. It will be interesting to watch as the folks at the ESA redesign what was a monster into something of value. E3 is gone, in a manner of speaking, and now we await for the new E3 to emerge.

The Official Word: E3 Undergoes Huge Changes