E3 2024 Plans Involve New Venue, ESA and ReedPop Part Ways

[T0@st]

Video game events specialist ReedPop is no longer partnering with the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) to co-organize future Electronic Entertainment Expo (aka E3) trade shows. According to GamesIndustry.biz, a venue change is also in the cards—E3's familiar setting of the Los Angeles Convention Center is not on the consideration list for next year. The ESA seems to be sizing up (or down) a suitable new location for E3 2024, despite industry talk indicating that everything had been called off, well in advance. E3 2023 was cancelled around Spring time, with major publishers confirming non-attendance and a downturn in public interest—the latest reports suggest that the ESA is working on a complete format revamp for their 2025 show.

A mutual decision has been reached between the (now former) collaborators—ReedPop's multi-year deal as co-organizer is annulled. ESA president and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis commented on the split: "We appreciate ReedPop's partnership over the past 14 months and support their ongoing efforts to bring industry and fans together through their various events. While the reach of E3 remains unmatched in our industry, we are continuing to explore how we can evolve it to best serve the video game industry and are evaluating every aspect of the event, from format to location. We are committed to our role as a convenor for the industry and look forward to sharing news about E3 in the coming months."




Kyle Marsden-Kish, ReedPop's games events boss said: "We have enjoyed our time working with the ESA and appreciate their commitment to the games industry as a whole. While we will not be involved with the future of E3 we look forward to seeing its evolution and where the ESA takes it." This is a big loss for the company, but it still does steady business at other popular culture events, including Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) and New York Comic Con. PAX West 2023 took place earlier this month, with a larger presence of indie development houses. Nintendo occupied a neighboring section of the Seattle Convention Center.



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[Hyderz]

E3 needed to evolve a while back as most people has access to pretty much most of the media that is shown at E3...
There is no reason for people to go besides the usual ... first to see a trailer.... hands on with some demos... certain small niche collectibles...

 

[ZoneDymo]

E3 needed to evolve a while back as most people has access to pretty much most of the media that is shown at E3...
There is no reason for people to go besides the usual ... first to see a trailer.... hands on with some demos... certain small niche collectibles...

which for many is enough, first hands on wiht some new fighting game on a new sponsored controller or something can very really cool.
and ya know, these good ol days:

But E3 is too expensive and too exclusive and well...developers recon they can protect themselves from negative PR by controlling the narrative entirely by just doing a livestream themselves.....

 

[TechLurker]

E3 used to be nerdy fun, but the current climate doesn't support the nerdiness of the E3s of old, and it's just a boring venue to spam a bunch of launch trailers for upcoming video games and maybe the occasional game-related peripherals, which most companies realize they can do better with their own private expo or online-only event.

 

[Logoffon]

Wondering would next year's EEE still have a go ahead if most of the bigger ones back out from joining it...

 

[Vayra86]

There are too many people now, forget it, this will become a snoozefest or it will be impossible to get into.

 

[Totally]

E3 kinda drifted away from what used to draw people in. All the cool stuff, announcements, sneak peaks/previews that used to be shown to the general public slowly got reserved or sectioned off to private/behind closed doors meeting with the press. Who would go onto say "oooh, we saw cool shit but can't tell you because NDA". E3 was only interesting for the members of the press, for everyone else it was dry stale bread.

 

[Wye]

While the reach of E3 remains unmatched in our industry

We are committed to our role as a convenor for the industry

Nobody cares about them, they are dying, but they continue to be smug.

 

[ReallyBigMistake]

E3 died YEARS AGO
when they banned booth babes and turned on all the lights.

 

[Frick]

E3 died YEARS AGO
when they banned booth babes and turned on all the lights.

If so I applaud its death. Those were dark times.