E3 in its current form is uncomfortable and uninteresting to the audience, according to Geoff Keighley, founder of The Game Awards. He was one of the organizers of the exhibition, but decided to ignore it for the first time in 25 years.
Jeff Cayley
Since 2017, the veteran of gaming journalism has hosted the E3 Coliseum.
This is a series of interviews, panels and presentations with the participation of famous industry figures. This year, Cayley “made the difficult decision to abandon the E3 Coliseum,” he said on Twitter. It is still unknown whether this format will be preserved and who will conduct the interview now.
As Cayley stated in an interview for The Washington Post, E3, unlike The Game Awards and Gamescom, has ceased to be comfortable. It no longer fits his vision of a major infotainment exhibition.
“It’s no secret that E3 needs to be developed, and I have a lot of ideas about which one. But I decided to wait and see (the actions of the ESA),” the journalist said.
After Kaylie’s statement, the ESA holding the exhibition issued a press release on the topic of E3 2020. It follows that the format of industry interviews will remain, but the model of the event itself will change dramatically. “We appreciate (Jeff Cayley’s) contribution and look forward to further cooperation. We are also looking forward to the opportunity to please fans and introduce them to the new E3 model in 2020,” GameDaily quotes.biz organization.
Opinions are growing louder that E3 does not correspond to the title of the largest industrial exhibition. There are many reasons for this.
One of the most important is data security. Last year, the personal information of 2,000 journalists who were accredited to participate in E3 2019 was leaked. Also, just yesterday, a draft version of the website for E3 2020 leaked to the network, Eurogamer writes.
There are also problems with attendance. Gamers’ interest in E3 is falling every year. Last year’s exhibition was called “ghost town” (quote from Vice Games). Although ESA is trying to make E3 a “holiday for gamers”, as follows from its press release, the entrance fee for players is more expensive than at PAX.
As a result, industry leaders are beginning to refuse to participate in the exhibition. For example, Sony will not appear for the second year in a row. As noted by its management: “We respect ESA as an organization, but we believe that E3 2020 with its vision is not suitable for what we want to focus on this year.”
A number of influencers agree that publishers (and possibly ESA itself) cannot decide on the status of E3. Some consider it an entertainment event, others — a business event.
ESA is not able to support any of these areas, an anonymous source believes GameDaily.biz . He sees the root of the problem in the lack of proper leadership and a clear vision of the exhibition. “E3 has had a prolonged identity crisis,” he said, “and now the whole industry is ashamed of it.”
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