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Well it looks like E3 is dying

May 01, 2008 in News comments 15

Last year E3 suffered much criticism for privatising the event with the average Joe unable to attend the expo. Many analysts said they E3's fate depended on what happened in the following year. Now the list of companies attending E3 has been made public and it's not looking good. Activation, Blizzard NC Soft and many more are missing from the line up. Is this a sign of whats to come?

Here's the full list so far from the E3 website:Akella
Atari Inc.
CAPCOM Entertainment, Inc.
Codemasters
Crave Entertainment
Disney Interactive Studios
Eidos, Inc.
Electronic Arts
Konami Digital Entertainment America
LucasArts
Microsoft Corporation
Midway Games, Inc.
MTV Games
NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc.
Nintendo of America Inc.
SEGA of America
Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc.
Sony Online Entertainment Inc.
Square Enix Inc.
Take-Two Interactive
THQ, Inc.
Ubisoft
Bale Fire via gamingnexus.com »
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Most recently commented on by on May 5, 2008

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  • 2
    Horny Melon May 2, 08
    E3 last year was a farce. It was a pain in the but to move from venue to venue for press conferences. It was largely considered a disaster. Whoever was in charge of the event is back to square one and must reattract all the developers. Without the public to generate hype though is there really a need for the big developers to go? What would be said there that wouldn't be picked up through press releases and GDC?
  • -2
    Final Blade May 2, 08
    Well nothing lasts forever, and this is clearly one of them. Sad though.
  • 0
    Donnelly May 2, 08
    wtf? It's not as if there is a lack of big names.


    CAPCOM Entertainment, Inc.
    Electronic Arts
    Konami Digital Entertainment America
    Microsoft Corporation
    Nintendo of America Inc.
    Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc.
    Sony Online Entertainment Inc.
    Square Enix Inc.
    Take-Two Interactive
    THQ, Inc.
    Ubisoft
  • 0
    Miss Razz May 2, 08
    It'd be a shame if there was no E3 next year, because it has failed as a result of their own poor changes. E3 was doing fantastically up until they suddenly chose to make it a private expo. The public was a big part of it, and small things like public-demos and booth-babes added alot of fun to the expo that no longer exists.Rather than completely getting rid of E3 next year, why don't they just return it to the way it was? It would be a big loss to the gaming world if E3 ended forever. No other expo comes close to it's "hugeness".

    I miss the days where I would enter IGN or Gamespot and be bombarded with exciting news about my most-anticipated games from the latest E3 expo.
    • 1
      VeGiTAX2 May 2, 08
      E3 = Corporate Trade Show

      The show wasn't meant to be a public swag fest, yes there was swag for people to take home but it was more based on the idea that this is the industry and it should be more lax compared to a normal show.

      E3 has forever been a private expo, if you tried to apply as a regular joe there was no admitting. You had to pull some card out of your hat to fake a website, your "sales assistant" tag or something else to get them to pass you through the registration gates. Unless it was a really really low budget third party, most demos were behind badge only doors.

      The problem apparently though was the cost of the show, the cost of producing all this gear and all these shows for people versus the money they were taking in later. E3 was basically becoming a huge entertainment budget and expectations had been growing for years about magical amounts of freebies and shows. The progression though starting around in 2004 had showed that companies in 2005 and 2006 had already started cutting back their participation, R* was one of the first to step back and even EA reduced their booth design as a more closed feel as the years started to push on.

      I'd love some form of that E3 to return though even as a media fest, the show last year was a sham though, empty kiosk isles with "beta testers" to act as company consults were insulting, no more hands on play sessions with the devs? yeah. right.

      The show will hopefully shape up in the coming months, if not then the West loses one of the biggest shows for gaming that there ever really has been.
  • 0
    joshuam May 2, 08
    lol im sure there be others to go to not jus E3
  • 0
    Kinetic May 2, 08
    I really look forward to E3 each year. Have for the past five or six years. It would suck if it went away.
  • 0
    kik36 May 2, 08
    It's a shame, it was always a big dream to go to an E3.......but I never got to it before they closed it to the public......I'm sure it will be shut down soon.
  • -2
    Spazerman May 2, 08
    wow BS ubisoft doesn't have great games either bad list 0.o
  • 0
    TwilightPrince May 2, 08
    All the big names are still there, but the number is dwindeling.

    Its a shame. E3 used to be like Christmas for gamers. Now its something less.
  • 0
    R1DDL3S May 3, 08
      All the big developers are there...I always thought I would be able to go eventually but i guess not...
  • 2
    VeGiTAX2 May 3, 08
    Official Statement from Activision on why we'll not see them this time around.

    "After careful consideration, for business reasons Activision has decided not to participate in any official E3 activities. We wish the ESA best of luck with the show."

    One could also wonder if last year's live demo had anything to do with that seeing as it was quite uhm... bad? Yeah never have drunk/high comedians as your host.
  • 0
    Spazerman May 5, 08
    it would of been so much better if the included blizzard
    • 0
      R1DDL3S May 5, 08
        Agreed, but they do have their own events that are much bigger.
      • 0
        VeGiTAX2 May 6, 08
        Indeed, Blizzcon is a much bigger bash for them, their invitational tournaments and so on only demonstrate further that they don't really need to piggyback on any venue at all.

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