The E3 Media & Business Summit of 2007 was somewhat of a bust and a let-down. After it changed from the previous media spectacle to its current, more intimate event, the magic just seemed to be lacking.
Now, with the news of Vivendi Universal and Activision (as well as some others) not attending this year’s E3 Media & Business Summit (and subsequently leaving the ESA), many gamers and forum trolls are raising the red flag of ‘E3 is dead!’ and all that nonsense. While the full list of companies at E3 has yet to be announced ‘officially’, so far it looks like these companies will be attending:
* Akella
* Atari Inc.
* Bethesda Softworks
* 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.
* Rebellion
* SEGA of America
* Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc.
* Sony Online Entertainment Inc.
* Square Enix Inc.
* Take-Two Interactive
* THQ, Inc.
* Ubisoft Entertainment Inc.
* Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment
-The list has been updated with the recent announcement by ID Software, Her Entertainment, and NC Soft.
Sure, losing the six companies is a hit to the line up at the summit, but with all of the other talented developers appearing this year, I would hardly call the expo ‘dead’. It is true that there are fewer developers on the list for this year’s event when compared to year’s past, but there is also no word on how much floorspace the ESA has rented at the convention center. Additionally, there is still plenty of time to register and set up a booth, so that list could grow.
Pulling the expo back from its 60,000+ attendance circus to a more intimate event was an attempt to re-focus on the games, not who’s booth was bigger and better and I would rather a company spend some of that booth budget on additional development assets than waste it on some booth-babes. Now while this may seem like a moot point being that this particular change occurred last year, many posters are still citing it as one of the reasons ‘E3 is dead!’.
By losing a few of the top-tier, huge developers from the line-up, it might allow smaller, independent studios an ‘in’ to showcase what they are working on, something that was very difficult to do in the event’s previous incarnation.
While these changes are painful, they will pay off in a much more focused event where gaming media can get the information they need to the public who craves it. Everything fluctuates, and this is just another rebuilding year for the E3 expo. Things will improve and there is no reason for all the gloom and doom talk, people!
