E3 is fun when you are a fan waiting for your favorite games, it is fun on this end as well with all the speculation; though it is a nightmare actually reporting on these shows. Depending on the show, and how much extra work was needed; I did some work on all conventions. I continued to follow them up, and I sent an email or two to clarify some information. Then Geoff Keighley announced an E3 show for Gamescom, I wrote about this as well. Between this, the addresses of several journalists’ homes leaking, and more leaks for next year’s shows, it shouldn’t surprise you that I’m sick of E3.

The leaks at hand come from an exclusive source to GameDaily.Biz reporting that the ESA (Entertainment Software Association), has big plans ahead for next year’s E3. The first major thing that shall be said is; yes, the attendance (general admission) is being upped by ten thousand, increasing the number from fifteen thousand to twenty-five thousand. There is also a report of an industry-only day, something that industry professionals ask for every year. While these could be true, with all leaks it is important to take these with a grain of salt.

Though with higher attendance, there may be a worry over the queues getting longer; creating a larger issue that already persists. As someone with an accent that is a walking tour of the UK, I find queuing enjoyable and dreadful. the ESA are proposing “Queuentertainment.” This isn’t entertainment, however, marketing to those in line, possibly other events surrounding them. The slides provided by GameDaily, reportedly by the ESA, state they want to bring more athletes, influencers, and otherwise into the mix as part of the shows as well as apparently being on the show floor.

If this is the case, there could be an argument towards not doing so, as with any celebrity in a tight space, there could be cause for overcrowding. Which also brings us to the reconfigured floor plan, something which sees Nintendo’s spot from this year taken over much of the west hall. The floor plan seen in the slides show the west hall mapped out with “experience hubs” for fans and celebrities to share a space for a small-time; these are proposed to be inside individual booths.

The example given in said slides suggests a game with balls between the L,A Lakers, and fans from general admissions in the middle of the booth. I don’t know how many gamers you know that are sports championship winners, but somehow I believe this will be the Globe Trotter levels of disparity when that game comes to E3. Let’s also take note that the crowds, size of the court, and a whole manner of other issues persist in this case of hypotheticals. How about, instead of mapping out massive areas for celebrities; add more consoles, PCs, or otherwise to cut down on queue lengths?

The other proposed activities would be leading actors, let’s say headline Marvel stars, in tournaments alongside general admissions or members of active tournaments as a special event. This would be another large attraction and crowding point. It all reeks of “synergy” and other lizard people words that no human understands.

This same idea of celebrity is being granted to “influencers,” think anyone that playing Fortnite or one of those shouty popular YouTubers. One would assume they will not be there to cover the event, instead they would be apart of it. They would be part of the fan-fest mentality that the ESA wants to project. This also brings up a question. Why?

Industry analyst Daniel Ahmad, @ZhugeEX, collected the number of admissions alongside Gamescom; Tokyo, Paris, Brazil, Taipei games show/week; ChinaJoy, and G-star Korea. All these events in the past year (2018-2019) have amassed over two-hundred thousand attendees each. Meanwhile, the ESA’s child, E3, sits at a paltry sixty-six thousand this year; one can’t help but speculate that this may contribute to the fact the ESA wants to up attendance. Ahmad also notes that E3’s sixty-six thousand isn’t low for the event, though it isn’t the 2005 record of seventy thousand.

The entire push by the ESA is in the direction of a consumer-experience, pulling away from the trade show roots of the show. While it has almost always been a giant billboard for the next year or two of games; there may be more of a focus to specific games, not “let’s sell the consoles and here are the games you can play on them.” The ESA is also proposing changes to your home experience, as they note, “paid media partnerships,” “enhanced press coverage from mainstream outlets,” and on paid media partnerships, “enables ESA to control content and the message.”

With the ESA being nothing more than a lobbying group, you can bet some of these changes (if true) will be implemented. In some areas of the industry, they will be welcomed with open arms. Personally, looking at these slides makes me think the ESA are alongside the mad conspiracy that royal families are lizard people, well business lobbyist are from the planet Incognita-lacerta.

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