E3 cancelled for next year and beyond [update 3] - Joystiq

That's right, kids. E3 is officially over, and I couldn't be happier. Companies are finally starting to learn that the games press are pretty much irrelevant at a show like E3. Why? Because most of the big names had all the news early anyway, and were under embargo to not release it. Every publisher I knew of had separate events for the press just before E3, or even at different times of the year. All E3 could do is serve as a major media spectacle, and even then, the people that really cared would get their news online as it happened, not hours later on TV.

So where do we go now? I think that seeing companies like Microsoft and Nintendo doing local shows like the Penny Arcade Expo are going to become more prevalent. Nintendo's been on the right track all along by giving gamers direct access via things like the Cube Clubs and the Nintendo Fusion Tour. It's no longer about the press, it's making each and every gamer feel like they're getting an "exclusive" that they can share with their friends. Most importantly, for a games journalist like myself that has left to focus more on blogging and marketing, it means that the attention of marketing budgets is going to where they can get the most bang for their buck, and that means getting in touch with these micro-audiences that bloggers can command the attention of.

I'm kind of sad, because E3 was always a privledge to go to, if a massive time and energy sink. As much as I would have loved to have gone last year, I felt like I was there watching it on the internet with my friends that did manage to go. At the same time, I don't miss the sort feet, or the feeling like you're just cattle to the publishers. I think this is going to result in more in-depth stories and in general, more opportunity for independent developers and publishers to get some exposure outside of the E3 bubble. Of course, I think that the developers are the ones that will really love this change. No one liked having to drop everything for three months to get a demo ready for E3, and this means that we should see somewhat shorter development times as well. A two year cycle (spanning two E3s) could be trimmed to a year and a half without that demo time.

All that said, there's still this pang of sadness. So this afternoon, I'll get home from work, pop open a beer, and pour a little Michelob Ultra Amber on the street for my homies at E3.

The one thing that I think will be interesting is to see how this ends up affecting Nintendo and Sony, since the last major console to truly launch at an E3 was Microsoft's Xbox 360. Could that really make any difference? There's talk of a smaller version of E3 coming in as little as two year's time, but I think Kim Pallister is right ... I think that this is going to poison the industry on the concept of an E3 at all.

Technorati tags: E3, Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Penny Arcade Expo, PAX 06