NEWS - Tuesday, December 18, 2007
E3 Returns to L.A. Convention Center
But even though the event will be returning to the stomping grounds of the overblown version of E3 that died in 2006, the summit will not revert back to the glam and glitz of old.Instead, it will continue to focus on industry business, featuring small meetings with media, development and other areas of business, much like when the summit was held in Santa Monica this past summer.
The 2008 E3 Media and Business Summit will take place from July 15-18 next year.
The first E3 Media and Business Summit, held in July this year, garnered criticism for an inconvenient layout that had media and industry people shuttling between their own hotel, hotels where game companies were staying and a hangar where many of the games were on display.
The ESA also provided Next-Gen with additional details on the upcoming 2008 event. Console manufacturers and third party publishers will once again hold press conferences; there will be private, in-suite meetings with game company execs; and the Into the Pixel art competition will return.
The following Q&A fleshed out more details about the E3 Media and Business Summit:
Who is invited to attend?
Members of the media, retail, development and financial communities will attend, along with other key industry contacts. Between 3,000 and 4,000 people are expected to participate.
How do I get invited?
Invitations are determined by participating companies and not by the ESA. Those companies will provide lists to the ESA as to who to invite.
Are we going back to the “old” E3?
No, absolutely not. The decision to remain with the successful suite-based model was made by the ESA’s Board of Directors. The Summit is first and foremost about getting business done. When we asked key audiences what they wanted in the new event, we heard that they wanted opportunities for high-level meetings in a business-like setting, to play games, network, and socialize, to see major company offerings while also preserving the sense of discovery that is so much a part of E3, and to hear substantive presentations on the most important issues and trends facing the industry. We believe the event we have shaped will fulfill all those needs.
Will all press be invited to Summit?
Individuals from game enthusiast outlets, international media, and mainstream consumer press will be invited. However, because of the invitation-only nature of the event, the E3 Media & Business Summit isn’t wide open to the press. Journalists must be invited by participating companies. ESA will hear directly from the presenting companies which journalists they want to be at the show. Second, the response from the journalists invited previously has been very positive. We are confident that we will meet our target number for journalists attending from a wide cross-section of print, broadcast and electronic press.
Again, the invitation list will be developed by the participating companies.
Why the decision to move the Summit to Los Angeles?
We heard attendees’ concerns last year that they wanted a more centralized location, but they also liked the suite-based personalized nature of the event. Los Angeles offers us exactly the type of facilities we needed—convenient location for many of the presenting companies, ample meeting space for exhibitors, multiple hotels within walking distance to not only the main meeting center, but also to each other, as well as in environment that understands and appreciates the entertainment industry.
Why not make E3 open to the public, at least for a day, like the Tokyo Game Show?
The intent of this show is to be a business-to-business opportunity and it isn’t centered or focused on general consumers.
Source: http://www.next-gen.biz
