Every year people question whether E3 is still relevant. This year is no different, Entertainment Software Association Trade group confirms that it will return to LACC through 2016, due to attendees overwhelmingly pleased with the show.
“It’s interesting. I’ve been at ESA now for six years, and that question has come up pretty much every year,” ESA senior vice president Rich Taylor GI International.
“I think the show answers the question itself both through the level of attendance and participation, from the news that comes out of it, and it remains extraordinarily… not just relevant, but vital to the industry, and vital to those who want to share news through the billions of impressions that come out of it.
When we convene this show, all the attendant eyeballs and ears are pointed toward Los Angeles to see the news that comes out.”
Taylor added, “Right now, the overwhelming finding is where we are now is a really positive sweet spot.
Folks feel good about the room they have for their exhibit space, meeting room options, the number of attendees is still large enough to get all the principal folks that people hope to encounter during the show into the LACC, but also not so overwhelming that you can’t actually play and experience the games themselves, which is of course a key part of the show…
I think people really are fairly thrilled about what we have now and the model we have now, the size we have now, the timing we have now. That seems to be where the model will sit for the foreseeable future.”
Taylor said the ESA is still adapting to keep up with the changing industry, specifically the growing mobile market.
In response to a cry for better coverage of that sector, Taylor said this year’s E3 will feature an Online Mobile Gaming Pavilion where gaming for handheld devices will have its own dedicated space, “perhaps more conducive to the experience of playing those games.”
E3 2013 takes place June 11–13 with Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Alienware, and Sony are all slated to have press conferences.
However, Nintendo has decided not to have their usual press conference and instead host a few smaller events including a major Nintendo Direct presentation to focus on their software lineup for the U.S. market around the time of E3.
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