Since 1995, the Electronic Entertainment Expo has been the mass media’s window into the world of video games -- the place where folks who don’t live and breathe gaming get the chance to finally see games in a positive light by those same news outlets that typically feature games as a blight on society.
Open only to those professionals in the industry and press, the Expo quickly grew larger and more ambitious with each subsequent year, and in 2005 reached a record high of 70,000 attendees.
Then something odd happened. The show's monumental success became its downfall. It seemed that E3 became more about how elaborate a publisher's booth is, and less about the games they were spotlighting. For the major companies, the competition to get noticed above the competition became more important than actually getting the word out on the products themselves. Soon the show became a money pit, with publishers spending ridiculous amounts on their booths with little marketing value in return.
Instead of scaling down and showcasing the actual games, the most notorious of the big booth perpetrators complained to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), who in turn chose to put an end to the biggest annual event in the video game industry. For 2007 the ESA announced they were canceling the Expo, instead replacing it with the E3 Media and Business Summit, a place for industry pros to hold the same corporate meetings they already do all year long in their offices.
The lack of press access caused the mass-media news outlets to completely write off the show. By the second year of the Media and Business Summit, the world and many industry pros had nearly forgotten of E3's existence. Realizing what a mistake sacrificing their expo was, the ESA has brought the Expo back for 2009, and with a vengeance.
For the 2009 E3 Expo the industry has pulled out all the stops, not only in an attempt to bring the Expo back to its former glory, but to try and give the video game industry the PR shot in the arm it needs during a lagging economy that's resulted in the biggest bout of layoffs in the history of the gaming market, even eclipsing the Video Game Crash of '83.
So have the big time publisher's learned their lesson and chosen quality over flashy quantity? Probably not, as they are doing everything they can right now to grab the media's attention. While the door was slammed shut in the face of press during the E3 Media and Business Summit, everyone involved with E3, including the ESA, is trying to get back into the media's good graces with more access than ever. They are also trying to coax back industry pros by initially offering free admission passes to all pros who signed up during the first few months of registration.
Let's hope their gamble worked. Check out our E3 2009 - Electronic Entertainment Expo hub for all the classic video game offerings at the 2009 comeback extravaganza.
Classic Gaming Milestones at E3
1995 - The First E3
Consoles System Debuts:- Neo-Geo CD
- PlayStation One
- SEGA Saturn
- Virtual Boy
1996
Nintendo 64 console and the Unreal Engine make their debut.1997
Half-Life announced Quake 2 and Megal Gear Solid previewed for the first time.1998
First publick demo of the historic first-person shooter, Half-Life1999
SEGA Dreamcast is unveiled.2000
PlayStation 2 and the Xbox revealed.2001
Nintendo GameCube makes its premiere.2002
Xbox Live service announced.2004
The Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP handheld systems take center stage.2005
Microsoft shows off the Xbox 360 for the first time.
Nintendo sneaks the public a peak at The Revolution, which was later renamed the Wii, and the smallest video game system ever made, the Game Boy Micro.
2006
The first hands on demos of the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3.
Nintendo classic console game downloadable service.
The last of the event-style E3 Expos for the next two years.
2007
The ESA announces they are ending the E3 Expo, instead replacing it with the E3 Media and Business Summit.
The E3 Media and Business Summit opens its door to only 8 % attendance from their previous years traffic.
2008
The E3 Media and Business Summit flops for a second year in a row, with yet another disappointing turnout in attendance. Many publishers begin to pull out of the show and host their own separate press events.
2009
After killing it two years before, the ESA brings back the E3 Expo, and try to reignite the success of the original show.
