E3Expo 2007: Smells like GDC

October 16, 2006 on 9:55 am | In General Gaming, Industry

I missed this Gamasutra piece on Friday, but it clearly lays out the future of E3.

• E3 Business and Media Summit
• July 11-13
• A daily luncheon conference session with top executives and/or analysts and a Serious Games showcase
• They're considering an Independent Games Showcase, which to me sounds very much like Independent Games Festival Student Competition from GDC.
• The software showcase (the reason most people went to E3) will be located in the Barker Hangar, right across the street from the Santa Monica Airport. According to Gamasutra: "The venue will allow participating companies to showcase their games in standardized, turnkey displays areas ranging from 100 square feet to 400 square feet. "

Here's a quote about the event.

The newly restructured three-day event will, as expected, be invitation-only, and will offer the opportunity for both ESA members and non-members to stage major press events, and to have intimate meetings in hotel suites and meeting rooms with media, retailers, developer partners, and other unspecified audiences. ESA expects that event booking will be launched within the next 30 days.

Basically, the event is being split to separate business and industry functions from entertainment functions. I can't fault the logic, and I am also happy they're maintaining the software showcase. Barker Hangar is very onvenient to the airport, and changes the travel patterns of a lot of attendees. Should be interesting to see if anyone complains about the impact on the local economy.

It also is odd to put this in July. I wonder if that is when they'll always have it, or if it is just because they couldn't get anything sooner for 2007. The May E3 was perfect, between the GDC of March and AGC of August. But it was only perfect if you attended all three. Moving E3Expo to July may compel some companies and people to decide between Santa Monica and Austin next year. I'm going to both, particularly if E3 continues to charge a premium for the conference track that was free at AGC. Those sessions were more valuable to me than any number of the long list of derivative game demos.

Ultimately, this is shaping up to be the more intimate event they set out to create. Should be an interesting summer.