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E3 to scale back. Booth babes devastated.
In what must surely be a blow to video gaming enthusiasts, scantily-clad women, fans of scantily-clad women and, of course, the City of Los Angeles, the Entertainment Software Association announced Monday that they are going to scale back the size and scope of E3 convention next year. In fact, the convention, the video gaming industry's largest, most-likely won't be at the LA Convention Center either. Instead, it will take place at various hotels around downtown.
The event usually attracts tens of thousands of journalists, exhibitors, retailers, gawking teenagers and others. But in its release Monday about its E3 plans, the ESA said it intends the show to be "more intimate" and that it would not have the feel of a giant trade show in the future.
E3 has long been known for the mammoth booths of exhibitors like Electronic Arts, Activision, Sony, Microsoft and others, and the ESA's statement suggested that the show would no longer feature booths of that scope. Still, the statement, from ESA President Douglas Lowenstein, said that E3 would remain in Los Angeles in some form for the forseeable future.
"E3Expo remains an important event for the industry, and we want to keep that sense of excitement and interest," Lowenstein said in the statement, "ensuring that the human and financial resources crucial to its success can be deployed productively to create an exciting new format to meet the needs of the industry."
The ESA said it would reveal more details about its plans for E3 in the coming months. To us, E3 was always too big anyway. And way too loud. Although, it was pretty fun. It will be interesting to see the new, improved E3 next year.
Of course, now that E3 has decided to scale back, its looking better for the San Diego Comic Con to become the premiere event of its type on the West Coast. And as for the newly-out-of -work booth babes, any of you are welcome to come and work one of our upcoming LAist parties. You're welcome any time.
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