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PA's Khoo Reacts To 'E For All' 2008 Date
The last weekend in August has been the comfortable home of the Penny Arcade Expo since the event began. This year, the new 'E For All' event is planned for October, but in 2008 the IDG-run convention is scheduled for the same weekend as PAX. FiringSquad had a chat with Penny Arcade's business manager Robert Khoo, who explained why he's not worried. "If we change our dates at all, it won't be because of this- it's always a challenge to wrestle and negotiate for as much space as possible at the convention center, and since we're expecting 45-50k next year, we take what we can get. Right now we are planning for that same weekend, but if for some reason even more space opens up two weeks before, we'll take it. But I'll be honest with you- since PAX started I've seen my fair share of consumer shows come and go (take IGNLive for instance). It's super hard to run one of these things, and I'd be surprised if E For All lasts longer than this year." They're expecting a mind-boggling 45k-50k people next year.
2006 - 60,000
2005 - 70,000
2004 - 65,000
From informal google searching. So PAX is not quite E3 levels yet, but given PAX's popularity and E3's current lack thereof, they could easily swap roles in a few years.
Now compare that to PAX's numbers for the same years, keeping in mind that PAX's first year was 2004.
2004 - 3,300
2005 - 9,000 (triples in size)
2006 - 19,323 (doubles in size)
2007 - 37,000 (doubles in size)
I think the growth speaks volumes.
Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!
Because the cheapest ticket will cost you $50?