E3 2009 Opening its Doors to the Public Next June
By Chris on Monday, October 20th, 2008 at 4:32 PM PST In Computer, Electronic Arts, Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Gamer Life, Games, Games Industry, Microsoft, Microsoft, Nintendo, Nintendo, Nintendo, Portable, Sony, Sony, Sony
There’s big news today for the industry’s biggest trade show — Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal is reporting that the Entertainment Software Association will announce tomorrow that E3 2009 will be undergoing some major changes from its current incarnation. The event will take place during the first week of June at the Los Angeles Convention Center and will be open to the public on Friday, June 5th and Saturday, June 6th. The event itself will begin on Tuesday, June 2nd, with the majority of the announcement filled press conferences from Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, and company coming on that first day. Attendance to the event will be capped at 40,000 people, 20,000 fewer people than the attendance of this year’s PAX and nearly half the amount that attended E3 2005, the last year before the event changed to its current, scaled-back ‘Media & Business Summit’ form.
Newsweek’s source told them, “After vehemently opposing a bigger show three years ago — to now go back to the board, admit a mistake, and advocate for a bigger show. It reflects well on the organization and the board to recognize they made a mistake and, regardless of how it would look publicly, go ahead and fixed.”
This is certainly a major change that bodes well for the event, which many believed was becoming increasingly irrelevant and superfluous. The attendance cap will likely make it a tricky affair to get into, but avid gamers should be pleased that they have another major event that seems to be catering to them.
