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Here are some more info posted from Gamespot.com today.
| quote: | ESA confirms smaller E3 in '07
[UPDATE 2] Annual expo to become "more intimate event" and will focus on press events, small meetings; EA, Sony, and Microsoft behind push to downsize, sources say.
By Curt Feldman, Brendan Sinclair, Tor Thorsen, GameSpot
Posted Jul 31, 2006 2:19 pm ET
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has confirmed reports that its Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) will be undergoing changes for next year. According to the trade group, the convention will be "evolving into a more intimate event focused on targeted, personalized meetings and activities."
"It is no longer necessary or efficient to have a single industry 'mega-show,'" said ESA president Doug Lowenstein in a statement. "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."
Prefacing its statements with the caveat "as currently envisioned," the ESA said E3 2007 will still be held in Los Angeles, but won't have the "large trade show environment" of previous years. The city has previously estimated that the show brings in about $20 million in direct spending by the 60,000-plus attendees and exhibitors.
Sources have revealed to GameSpot that several publishers--including Sony, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and THQ--were among those pushing hardest for changes to the event. The companies' motives were monetary in origin. One insider's estimate to GameSpot put the total amount spent by exhibitors to stage the show--including floor space, booth construction, personnel, hotel costs, and other miscenllaneous expenditures--at upwards of $80 million dollars. Using the ESA's rental rates, the cost of floor space alone at the event was nearly $12.5 million.
Additional sources have informed GameSpot how the ESA will recoup the massive amount of income it will lose from the fees it charges to E3 exhibitors and on-site marketers. According to several sources, a number of major publishers have agreed to pay the ESA as much as $5 million each to make up for lost revenues.
GameSpot has also learned that senior ESA staff met with officials from to the City of Los Angeles this morning to discuss the impact that having a scaled-down event will have on the metropolis. Attorney Daniel Offner of Offner and Anderson, PC, a law firm that represents numerous E3 exhibitors past and present, thinks the city might take legal action. "I'd be surprised if the city took this lying down," Offner told GameSpot. "I'm sure the city will take a close look at their rights and try and protect them."
One group that that will clearly suffer from a downsized E3 is Los Angeles taxi drivers. "The youngsters spend a lot of money and they don't stay in one space," said Nettabai Ahmed, president of Los Angeles' Independent Taxi. "For taxis, it was really a good convention for us. … A regular convention boosts the driver's income by about 25-30 percent. But E3, it goes up to 50 percent boost in their income."
Ahmed estimated that each of the city's 4,000-5,000 taxi drivers takes in an extra $500-$700 during the expo. That's not only the largest bump in income the driver's get each year, Ahmed said, but the largest they've received in decades, bested only by the 1994 World Cup and the 1984 Olympics.
So what will the new E3 look like? The ESA isn't saying ... yet. "The new E3Expo will take shape over the next several months," said Lowenstein. "[It] remains an important event for the industry and we want to keep that sense of excitement and interest, ensuring that the human and financial resources crucial to its success can be deployed productively to create an exciting new format to meet the needs of the industry. The new event ensures that there will be an effective and more efficient way for companies to get information to media, consumers, and others." |
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