Behind the Scenes At Gamestop's Private Expo

Gamasutra has a look behind the curtain, at a game expo few people even know exist. The annual Gamestop expo has a lot of the air of old-E3, with a greater focus on business deals, swag, and benefits for the hard working Gamestopper. "What did the show accomplish? In some sense, it seemed almost to be a reward for the store managers -- who work long hours on the front lines -- to listen to the show-floor scuttlebutt. While the official line was that the show was all business, bringing the managers to Las Vegas, loading their arms with swag, and letting them play pre-release games is obviously a big draw for these 'professional gamers'. They were so enthusiastic, in fact, that a huge number stayed beyond the 9 PM closing time; kiosks had to be deactivated before the die-hard crowd filtered away."

Comments

hyperbole

[winmine]

it seemed almost to be a reward for the store managers -- who work long hours on the front lines I hate the amount of hyperbole in game writing. Is gamasutra comparing selling warranties in a shop to trench combat? pfft

Re:Overhead!

[Grave]

If you read the article (and of course you didn't), you'd know that the vendors paid for everything as a marketing expense. The total dollar amount is surely a million or more, but split over 30+ vendors, that's not much at all for a chance to demonstrate your products to the people who are selling to 25-30% of the US retail gaming market. If you win over those managers, they are a whole lot more likely to recommend your products.

I'm not sure how much this article makes sense for slashdot, as the majority of people who actually care were attendees anyway.

Interesting promotion!

[The Orange Mage]

I hear if you trade in your press pass from last year, they'll buy it back for about 5% of it's original price in shop credit, then resell it next year for about eight times as much!