E3 Exhibitor Numbers Dwindling

CVG is reporting on the full list of exhibitors at this year's E3 (now the E3 media Expo), and things are looking quite a bit slimmer than in past years. As you'd expect given the change in tone, the smaller development houses are much thinner on the ground than they used to be. Only 32 companies will be making the trek to Santa Monica, and you can probably name them all off the top of your head. "Most of the big players seem to be there but it's a big way off last year's exhibitor list which exceeded 400. There are also only two independent developers listed, id Software and Foundation 9 Entertainment, which is disappointing seeing as one of the biggest reasons for the down-scale was to give smaller devs a chance in the spotlight. This year's E3 will consist of an exhibit hall in Santa Monica's Barker Hanger as well as company-run demos in nearby hotels. As always third-party press conferences will be held in a common location while platform holders will hold their own bashes - though the big three are yet to make any announcements."

Comments

That's why the name is longer ...

[guysmilee]

It takes up more room on the brochures and www site :-)

*ALL* trade shows suffering?

[neonfrog]

I work in the photography industry and their big US show in NYC, Photo+ Expo, has been getting smaller year after year. It is not because photography is declining, it is because the internet is a GREAT way to release and showcase new products and tech. At least that's what the big photography distributors are telling each other.

Spend gobs of money on a nifty trade show booth and extremely expensive union guys to help you plug in your power strip -OR- go internet viral for less money? Scramble to get a product released by the trade show date, or release it on its own time-table when it can compete most effectively? The choice seems clearer every year.

Trade shows as venues for marketing direct to customers have been dwindling for a while. Trade shows as a networking function are even getting dated. You don't need to be on your feet for 3 days in some other city to figure out who you want to partner with anymore.

Does anyone know of any industries where trade shows are growing?

Re:*ALL* trade shows suffering?

[theStorminMormon]

Does anyone know of any industries where trade shows are growing?

Look at PAX - the Penny Arcade Expo. No, I'm not stupid. I read the phrase "industry trade show", but my point is that as traditional reasons to hold those types of trade shows decline, new reasons may emerge. PAX may not be a trade show, but I think it covers a lot of the type of ground that trade shows (at least, gaming and hard-ware related trade shows) may have covered.

PAX gets bigger every year because the convention has inherent worth, and the trade-show aspect of it is an add on. IF you have a convention that draws people in crowds, then you have a motivation for vendors to show up.

Summary: the vendors aren't enough to draw the crowd anymore, but if you can get a crowd there for another reason, the vendors are going to want in too.

Re:*ALL* trade shows suffering?

[JoelMartinez]

you hit the nail on the head. At least in the software industry, I think people are starting to realize that the technical content you can get at a conference is readily available from the web ... and the networking (which had always been the real value in the first place), is easily trumped by simply going to local user groups and getting some recognition by having a good website/blog and posting good content.

Re:*ALL* trade shows suffering?

[Cadallin]

I've been kind of wondering about that. IF I was an executive of, say, Nvidia, or ATI/AMD, or Microsoft, or Nintendo, or even some small Indie/Asian Developer,I would think that PAX would be a GREAT place to exhibit and hold promotional events (second perhaps only to the major Comic Cons in Japan). You've got a huge event, with lots of attendees, who are interested in the products of your industry, that gets LOTS of press coverage, and is likely to get even more now that the major trade show for your industry has just downsized, how is that not a huge opportunity?

Who gives two shits about E3? Its only going to have a couple thousand people. Why not do something at PAX which has tens of thousands of attendees, a large percentage of which will post about the event on their Website/Blog/Podcast/Vidcast/Etc. Why not get them to write about YOUR company too?

Is anybody actually doing this at PAX?

Barker Hangar? That's moving downscale.

[Animats]

E3 is at Barker Hangar, the big WWII metal Quonset hut at Santa Monica Airport? That's moving downscale from the LA Convention Center. Way downscale. That place is used for flea markets and remainder sales.

"The Barker Hangar venue, a short drive from the hotels, will allow participating companies to showcase their games in standardized, turnkey displays areas ranging from 100 square feet to 400 square feet. All display areas will be developed by show management to ensure that the venue is staged efficiently."

Re:E3 is alive?

[Anonymous Coward]

No it was just changed from an essentially public event to an actual trade show. The arms race between exhibitors for hype was getting in the way of actually accomplishing any business at E3 so they scaled it down. The E for All expo is supposed to replace E3's role as a ridiculous hype festival.

Re:Small devs and E3

[Z0mb1eman]

I always thought E3 was for the press, not for the general public (yes, anyone can get in if they try hard enough, but that's not the point).

Showing your product to 4000 journalists (or bloggers or online comic authors I guess) is very different from showing your product to 4000 random gamers. My guess is companies go hoping their game will receive some of the buzz in the E3 coverage on gaming sites and magazines, and not for the E3 attendants themselves.

Re:E3 is alive?

[MS-06FZ]

It downsized. (See also this)

The thing is, it's no longer what it was. It's now invitation-only, and much smaller. It's changed so much that it's fundamentally not what it was.

Re:Small devs and E3

[hansamurai]

That's a good point, as the E3 of old was saturated with so many non-journalists and/or bloggers. However, that would also allow game information to be spread in a lot of unique ways that won't be as readily available anymore. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it all pans out, because this event is really not the same as it was before.