One very resent piece of news that has got me thinking was that E3 in all its overly-overdone glory has now become to expensive for anyone?s good. An interesting thought has come up.
I'm not sure how dependant Australian Industries are for the E3 event in terms of acquiring publisher deals. But from statics of this years dealings. It was profitable.
So. With E3 toning down. And Game publishers getting so massive that they are considering just eventing their own shows. How is the aussie industry going to fair with this?
Will we look to new and smaller places to sell our services? Or will we host our own little show in the US?
Opinions and options people...
More recent reports are saying that E3 will be becoming "E3 Media Festival" with an expected attendee count of only 5000.
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3546&…
http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3550&…
I think now it will be back to the seperate publisher shows that were going on and around E3 in anycase. It does restrict access to alot of these people, since they are usually invite only. But E3 never really seemed to make alot of sense anyway, with GDC a month or so earlier, and GDC being more game developer oriented, E3 being a mainly media event to show people of the media all the goodies. Which often is roughly the same as what is shown at GDC.
The other big benefit I think is E3 crunch will disappear - thats awesome for most developers since it was a huge extra expense of effort for no monetry reward. Maybe a E3 award.. but thats about it. In a multi-million dollar project, spending an extra few hundred thousand for no reason was very wasteful.
I dont think much will be missed - but I expect the media to whinge and complain they dont get free tickets and all paid drinking binges to the parties anymore. Hehe.. can just see half of the gaming mags now.. venting their frustration in editorials in next months issue :) "I cant go to E3 next year!!! booooo-hoooo" :) ahh.. gotta love the irony..
well actually, the general impression i get from the media outlet types is one of relief that they never have to go to the insane frenzy of another E3.
and then there's this response from another spectrum of the game industry: http://www.angry-gamer.net/pmwiki.php/Editorial/No_E3_Makes_Angry_Gamer…
quote:Originally posted by Grover
The other big benefit I think is E3 crunch will disappear - thats awesome for most developers since it was a huge extra expense of effort for no monetry reward.
I've seen this mentioned a couple of times, and I don't understand the reasoning behind the conclusion.
Publishers will still be showing games to distributors, retailers, and media behind closed doors, so there will still be the need to produce marketing builds for E3.
You might be able to get away with builds being a little rough around the edges and unstable (given the publishers are normally 'driving' in such demonstrations), but fundamentally the E3 special build will still be the thorn in the side of developers.
In my experience, E3 never was a place to get a deal done anyway. GDC and apparently DICE are much better.
Regardless, even if E3 is toned down to more of a "meeting rooms only" type event, most of the same relationship building opportunities will still exist for Australasian developers.