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ESA Prez confirms: E3 as we know it is dead

As we reported yesterday, E3 as we know is officially dead. Earlier today Doug Lowenstein, the Electronic Software Association's President, confirmed that the giant yearly blinking-lights-filled nerd fest that people on all sides of the gaming industry have come to love and/or hate is over. Reasons cited are the ones we've all heard: exhibitors pulled out, the Big Three all have their own exclusive gigs throughout the year, it's an epic waste of cash, the rush to get something 'amazing' ready for E3 is a massive disruption to dev cycles, etc. So it's over.

Lowenstein also confirmed that the show will not just be drying up and blowing away. A new show - which might get a new name, but is presently being called "The New E3" - will be held later than usual, in July 2007. It will still be in LA, but not necessarily at the LA Convention Center. Rather than the big glitzy event that it has been in the past, it will be a severely toned down show, primarily with everything in private meeting rooms. With this significant scaling back, there will most likely also be a massive overhaul in who is and isn't allowed to come. It should be safe to assume that you guys with day jobs at EB will no longer qualify as "part of the industry", but your bosses' bosses' bosses probably will.

Since the expo portion is dead, this will almost definitely result in Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony each organizing some manner of their own stateside expos, similar to things they've held elsewhere worldwide. There will probably also be a larger strain on GDC 2007's Expo than there has been in previous years. However, we won't really know how everything will be working out until it actually starts working out. More details as more things start falling into place.

Source: The ESA

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