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E For All Attendance Lackluster
Despite the upbeat tone of IDG's official release about the first 'E for All', commentators are noting that the reported figure of 18,000 attendees is lower than expected. Wired is blunt about it: E For All has nothing on PAX. "Penny Arcade Expo was everything E For All dreams of being: a well-attended show packed wall-to-wall with crazy game fans. But it's also inexpensive: three days and two nights of musical performances for way, way less money than an E For All ticket, let alone the additional cost of Video Games Live. And it's got a whole mess of community events, like panels, gaming rooms, and other opportunities that make E For All's extracurriculars look slim. The show floor is just one part of PAX, but it's practically all of E For All."
So it appears that a Video Gaming convention organized by videogamers for fun not only gets more attendance but is also considered more impressive by the media than a convention put on primarily for money and advertising. I feel like I should be unimpressed, kinda like a 'duh' thing, but then I remember how big E3 was even though it was quite low-quality. I'm quite happy that E for All didn't do so well, their attitude towards PAX and gamers in general was quite arrogant and getting taken down a notch is never bad for big execs. I'm also glad that it appears that the majority of gamers are more concerned with good entertainment and discussions rather than simply addicted to cons.
All in all I'd say this is good news.
There are two kinds of fool One says 'This is old therefore good' Another says 'This is new therefore better'- Dean Ing
with a name like "E for all" I'd think at least Club Kids would show up in hopes of free Ecstacy.
"I wish to God these calculations would have been made by steam." -Charles Babbage
Gabe has the details at:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/2007/08/29
"For example I had no idea that e for all had hired guerrilla marketers to wander the streets..."
Read below that for the story about the drunk vgXpo guy.
www.rdex.net
I considered buying tickets because my brother was interested in going, but I balked at the price of entry. I'm not too surprised by the sparse attendance.
Part of the hardcore faithful who believed in Apple long before it was cool again to do so
Any serious analyst saw this coming for months. They hosted the event in California where any serious hype would simply be reserved for E3 (ever hear of market saturation?) The price of entry was too high ($90 for the weekend? I've been to anime conventions larger than E for All for almost half that price) and lets face it, California is not exactly the easiest place to get around (or cheapest). They managed to get Nintendo and EA and ignored/failed to get everyone else (wheres Ubisoft, Microsoft and Sony?).
I cared, but I was too busy waiting for the line to open for tickets to next year's show to post on Slashdot...