Will expo's like E3 and CES be back?

With all of them going digital I'm just curious to see if you think they'll stay like that from now on or will revert back to being packed with people?
I hope they do revert to being packed as it's just more exciting somehow but I can see the benefit of not having to rent and build booths.

I think it depends on how successful the likes of virtual ones are going to be. I was at Cisco Live Europe last year which was pretty special, this year... it's going to be a 'Global' virtual event.

You are right in that it must be great to not have the cost of booths etc... but wouldn't all that would be covered by the entrance fee?

Kezzer wrote:I think it depends on how successful the likes of virtual ones are going to be. I was at Cisco Live Europe last year which was pretty special, this year... it's going to be a 'Global' virtual event.

You are right in that it must be great to not have the cost of booths etc... but wouldn't all that would be covered by the entrance fee?

I have no idea if these things make money or not.
Some of the booths at E3 seem crazily expensive.

They will be back. The companies that run these shows make a fortune. They’re not going to just give up, even if it means heavy discounting to get people back.

Do they even need to? You can't get the feel of something like an eCar on a show floor.

My one wish is for all the demos to be playable by the public during E3. They could charge £15 for a 3-day ticket and let you stream them via xCloud or Stadia (or the E3 servers) so that hackers can't get hold of files for data mining.

I'd stump up for it.

Staff generally like them as it's a good opportunity for a piss up.

Lex-Man wrote:Staff generally like them as it's a good opportunity for a piss up.

Lex-Man wrote:Staff generally like them as it's a good opportunity for a piss up.

Ah, the good old days before modern inventions like the expenses policy.

Of course they will, if this ever ends I give it about a year before gooseberry fool is largely back to how our was ans this shitnwill start drifting into a rose tinted experience of how everyone pulled together to get through it.

E3 was dying even before the pandemic, I can't see it coming back.

E3 will return for a couple of years in a desperate attempt to prove it still has relevance before finally dying a death.

hopefully not

I think E3 will continue, just perhaps not as big and glamorous on the consumer side as it was at its peak. There is too much noise for most titles to stand out so it doesn't make sense for most publishers to get lost in that. Having said that, I think there's probably a need for the industry side of it. I imagine a lot of deals get done there. Although perhaps the need for that isnt as much as it once was given how interconnected the world is.

Either way, the glory days of lots and lots of huge announcements are long gone.

Rex Kramer wrote:
Lex-Man wrote:Staff generally like them as it's a good opportunity for a piss up.

Ah, the good old days before modern inventions like the expenses policy.

My girlfriend works in publishing there expense claims are literally insane.

E3 is dead, I think. Has been going that way for years. I think we'll mostly get online events for new games etc, and separate events by Sony/Nintendo/MS etc for new hardware, where people can go and try it themselves, on the platform-holder's own schedule.

What was the best year of E3?

The only one I can vividly remember is Sony's humiliating "giant enemy crab, flip it over for max damage" & "Riiiiiiiiiidge Racerrrrrrrr!!" show.

Kezzer wrote:I think it depends on how successful the likes of virtual ones are going to be. I was at Cisco Live Europe last year which was pretty special, this year... it's going to be a 'Global' virtual event.

You are right in that it must be great to not have the cost of booths etc... but wouldn't all that would be covered by the entrance fee?

Entrance fees (if there are any for the event) go to the event organisers.

Exhibitors have to pay for a plot in the exhibition. Plus pay for all their booth setup and pay for their employees to get there and be there.

They are largely a waste of time and a free lunch and day off work for people visiting the exhibition. I'd be surprised if they ever came back for any industry.

PAX and more fan based events will no doubt be back.

E3 was dying a death even before covid so as Zilnad said it'll have a few more smaller showings before farting itself out (sidenote: if the E3 they had planned for 2020 had gone ahead I think that would have been the death-knell. It sounded atrocious).

CES, no idea as I've zero interest.

Drumstick wrote:What was the best year of E3?

The only one I can vividly remember is Sony's humiliating "giant enemy crab, flip it over for max damage" & "Riiiiiiiiiidge Racerrrrrrrr!!" show.

One of Nintendo's best was 2004 I think, where they announced Twilight Princess. Think it was Reggie's first too.

Drumstick wrote:What was the best year of E3?

The only one I can vividly remember is Sony's humiliating "giant enemy crab, flip it over for max damage" & "Riiiiiiiiiidge Racerrrrrrrr!!" show.

Grown men wetting their frillies over Zelda. So good. I still get chills.

Will expo's like E3 and CES be back?

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