I haven’t been to E3 the last two years. Three years ago, I was so appalled by the endless array of Vietnam shooters, mediocre racing games and licenses slapped onto ‘me-too’ gameplay that I left convinced that Playboy: Mansion was the most innovative game at the show. As such, when it came time the next two years to ask whether or not to splurge for plane tickets and hotel rooms, I decided to pass. Too much noise, too much hype, too little innovation – it had actually grown to be more depressing than anything else.
That the big companies are also disenchanted with E3 shouldn’t that surprising. The budgets for building one of those mega EA/Microsoft/Sony booths costs, according to numbers I’ve heard, are lower than, but in the neighborhood of, some of the cost estimates for World of Warcraft. All that money, and you have a hell of a time getting anyone’s attention because the guys next to you have sluttier booth babes juggling fire. It really is cheaper to buy plane tickets for all the journalists that matter, and show them one hell of a good time to boot.
All that being said, E3 still has real value that many people have overlooked. When I was with Ninjaneering, E3 was crucial for us because it gave us a chance to pitch to a lot of companies. When you’re a small company, your annual travel budget is roughly twelve bucks. We couldn’t afford to fly across the country to demo to every publisher who was marginally interested in us, but we could scrape together enough to send 2 guys to E3. We set up in the corner of a friendly fellow developer’s space down in Kentia Hall, and gave 20 demos in 3 days. Then we drank. Kentia Hall is a lot more fun with alcohol.
On the flip side, E3 is where I kissed my fiancee for the first time, so maybe it’s not all bad.
At any rate, small companies will still need a space that I get together. Hopefully, E3 won’t lose that. Because to be honest, my biggest concern is that GDC becomes even more swamped, as small devs rush there hoping to land that big deal.
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