Video Game Industry in Full Swing at Reinvigorated E3
The last BIG blow-out E3 Expo was held in 2006. But, in ’07 and ’08 the event was downsized significantly and became invite-only for many in the video game industry. This year, however, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) reinvigorated the E3 of old, leading to a 840% increase in attendance compared to 2008 with 41,000 game industry executives and journalists in attendance….and, it was a blast!
The press was out in full force and ranged from consumer media, to traditional gaming outlets, fan/community websites, podcasters, and TV/video crews. If you google “E3 2009″, you’ll get a mere 25 million results – i.e. lots of buzz.
One of the big stories of E3 included Microsoft’s announcement that Xbox Live will soon integrate with Facebook and Twitter. And the use of Twitter itself surrounding the event was a big deal compared to E3 ’06, with many attendees and journalists tweeting about the event (#E3). In fact, our gamerDNA client launched a new website last week – TweetMyGaming.com – which aggregates conversations about video games happening on Twitter in real-time.
And, yes, even the “booth babes” were back this year. But, was there anything missing? Yes. Companies were not giving away as much swag to attendees – but I did get a free IGN.comT-shirt, which made me a happy camper 
The ESA announced that E3 2010 will take place June 15 – 17 at the Los Angeles Convention Center – hope to see you there!
Discussion | Share Feedback