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The ESA's Letter To the Kentia Hall All-Stars 20

Posted by Zonk from the dear-john dept.
GameDaily has the letter than the Entertainment Software Association sent to some of the smaller players that used to attend E3. Despite the polite wording, the message is clear: smaller vendors are no longer welcome. With the 'focused' approach that the E3 Media event in 2007 will be taking, the folks that made Kentia Hall so memorable will likely be nowhere in sight. From the article: "Details of the event have not been finalized at this time, however our vision and goal is to create a more intimate climate for personalized meetings and product demonstrations. The ESA will announce additional details and information in the ensuing weeks and months. We would like to take this opportunity to extend our sincere and profound gratitude for your past support of this event. It has been exciting and rewarding to see the growth and significance of this industry mirrored on the exhibit floor of the E3Expo through the years. We look forward to many more years of industry growth, vitality and opportunity. "
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The ESA's Letter To the Kentia Hall All-Stars More

The ESA's Letter To the Kentia Hall All-Stars

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  • The message is clear? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by badasscat ( 563442 ) <basscadet75@NOspAm.yahoo.com> on Wednesday August 09, 2006 @11:21AM (#15874048)
    I've seen this said on a few other blogs as well, but I don't see it. It sounds like a form letter to me, probably sent to everybody that sends a similar inquiry regardless of company size. I don't see anything that implies that smaller vendors are "no longer welcome". All that it says is that it's a smaller event. Yes, that implies that smaller vendors will probably have a tougher time attracting the media, simply because there won't be a centralized place to find all these smaller vendors (most of the media covered Kentia Hall on the last day, all at once). But I don't see any suggestion here that these vendors cannot attend.

    I think some people are surprised to see that the ESA refers to the "old" E3 as "cancelled". But once you get that fact through your heads, you'll stop reading things into letters like this that aren't there. E3 is cancelled for everybody, not just the smaller vendors. It hasn't been downsized. It's been cancelled, and a new event put in its place. The format of that new event will be totally different than the one its replacing, but it sounds to me as if everybody, vendor-wise, is just as equally welcome to attend it. How the media ends up covering it is a question for them, though, not the ESA.

    • Re:The message is clear? (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Maybe you just haven't read enough form letters. If the recipient of this letter were welcome at the new "mini E3," the letter would've said so explicitly towards the end of the third paragraph (where it goes on about industry growth instead).
    • I'm with you on this one. I think people are reading in something that isn't there. If the small companies weren't welcome, the ESA wouldn't have bothered to even mention the new conference format in the letter.

  • Does this help Sony? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) * <akaimbatman AT gmail DOT com> on Wednesday August 09, 2006 @11:21AM (#15874051) Homepage Journal
    "So we're going to flip over this giant Expo on its back, then attack its weak point for MASSIVE DAMAGE."

    Seriously, anything that keeps Sony from blundering as bad next year as they did this year [youtube.com] is probably a good thing for Sony. A smaller expo might allow them to better connect with gamers (read: control information via the mainstream press) than they have in recent years. Sony (and other large companies) will be able to treat the expo as one large press release rather than trying to pander to the crowd. Which means no more embarrassing moments like shouting "Riiiiidge Racer!" and not getting a response from the audience.

    Unfortunately, it's probably only bad for gamers. :(
    • Actually, Sony is probably secretly hoping for one of those letters themselves, just so they'll have an excuse to stop coming to E3 and embarrassing themselves.

      -Eric

  • There goes the only possible benefit of "downsizing".
  • I'm sure the Austin Game Conference [gameconference.com] (which ended a couple days ago) would be more than happy to host anyone no longer welcome at E3. Austin is a major game development hub, and the conference has a very impressive list of attendees [gameconference.com].
  • It's not like E3 is leaving a big gap. There are alternate events such as the Penny Arcade Expo, which with the demise of E3, is now the largest gaming related event in North America. Many of the big companies like Nintendo and Microsoft take part, with playable demos of unreleased products, and there's certainly room for the little guys.

    • Most companies don't go to E3 to connect to their users. They go to get investers or big-chain stores interested in their products and to get press coverage.


      PAX is for gamers, it isn't set up to be a sales event (and, as a gamer, I hope it never will).


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