Eleven-year-old E3, formally known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo, draws in excess of 60,000 attendees and includes more than 400 exhibitors annually. But the show has progressively become a consumer frenzy and has lost support of many vendors.
Next year its parent, the Entertainment Software Association, is planning a radical change for the three-day event.
Rather than fill the 540,000 square feet of the Convention Center, the show will take place at a location that would support exhibitors in meeting room space only, with companies showing their wares to a select group of attendees numbering in the hundreds rather than thousands.
ESA said downsizing of the show can be attributed to the cost of the event to exhibitors, including the demands on companies to assign large numbers of staff to focus on the show, expenses associated with travel to the show, and the added expense to polish game builds and demos to be shown to attendees.
“E3Expo 2007 will not feature the large trade show environment of previous years," ESA president Douglas Lowenstein said. "It is no longer necessary or efficient to have a single industry 'mega-show. By refocusing on a highly targeted event, we think we can do a better job serving our members and the industry as a whole, and our members are energized about creating this new E3."
While adult content has been typically banned at the May show, numerous adult companies have had a presence at the show in recent years, including Playboy. Naughty America, in fact, was banned from the show this year because of its supposed racy content.
