How the Internet Has Strangled E3

E3 caters to the video game, computer game and other interactive software industries, which, by the way, bring in far more revenue than the Hollywood box office every year. The show has traditionally been a way for video game makers to preview their upcoming Christmas game offerings to big buyers (Toys R Us, Best Buy and the like) and to sell, sell, sell.

E3, A Game Developer's Perspective

What E3 actually was in the early days (for developers) was this:

• Spend two sleepless months prepping E3 demo. Watch waistlines expand, hairlines recede and caffeine jitters become a constant buzz while trying to "tune" a level or two of the game enough for the publisher (the guys who pay the bills) to put said game into the booth.
• Walk around show in a caffeinated, hungover daze, looking at what the competition came up with in their crazed two months prior to E3.
• Go to publisher parties and drink your weight in beer, vodka or bellinis (depending on who your publisher was).
• Try to collect enough free T-shirts and other swag that you wouldn't have to shop for clothing for the year.
• Go back to the office waiting for call from publisher complaining the game you were creating from them wasn't as cool as X, Y or Z game… Drink more while waiting for call.

Today, E3 is a very different place. The average developer experience at a modern E3 is something more akin to this:

• Spend two sleepless months prepping E3 demo. Watch waistlines expand, hairlines recede and caffeine jitters… okay, so not "everything" has changed.
• Walk around show trying to see what competition has been doing. Realize everything falls in one of two categories:
  • So secret that it is only shown behind closed doors and not to the likes of you.
  • Stuff that you've been looking at online previews of for the last 4 months.
• You might still get invited to a publisher party, but either I'm getting older or they are watering the booze down more.
• There is hardly any damn swag anymore. I used to get shirts, boxers, and a ton of pens, Frisbees and other stuff... Yesterday, I got a lightup ball and a lightup necklace. What the heck product is this necklace from anyway? It has a flashing LED "W" and I have no memory of where I got it.

What? It Is All Online?

That is right. Ninety percent of the stuff you can see at E3 is already online in some format. Companies try to save some surprises for E3 and they polish up their demos, but realistically, to be competitive, video game makers have to market to consumers and retailers year round. They need buzz. And, to get buzz, you need demos online. Some game companies get their downloadable movies online for upcoming games before the first level is built.

So, Why Go To E3

Well, there is always the thought that something cool could be there. And no one wants to be the one who missed it. We could see the next Grand Theft Auto. The Quake for this decade could be there. Really. Right? So, we trudge up to E3, complaining about what a hellhole it is, hating the train, hating the parking situation, but happy to be out of the office for the day, despite the overpriced food, the long lines and the deafening roar.

See ya next year.