[i]source taken from UO.UHall OT

where will the UO Devs get to show their wares?



[ There was a post in Forbes suggesting the future of E3 was in doubt Any thoughts as to what (if anything) will take its place? With the lauded UO-Mythic leverage, anything that keeps the pressure on (like E3) is welcome.

Forbes says E3 future in doubt

Could it be that too much industry consolidation has led to too few new development houses needing a forum to highlight their differences? Or is there simply no more innovation as we re-hash old titles and genres?

and


UO is never shown at E3, I don't know if it was even shown there when it was new (if E3 was around back then). UO isn't on the radar anymore, it is no longer citied as an example of mmo's or compared to other games, it’s too old to be considered relevant. Even EA ignores UO; they can’t be bothered to mention it in their press.


and

sorry, what is E3?

No don't be sorry - questions are good E3 is the Electronic Entertainment Expo - it's where many of the hot new games are shown by the dev teams for the first time. The UO team doesn't usually show there but the EA Devs do go for inspiration etc. The hope is that E3 might encourage EA to showcase some merger of Mythic DAOC and UO but if E3 goes away - so does the incentive to meet the E3 deadline




CatHat


Yeah - Tradeshows are an enormous PR & vanity expense. I've done my fair share of work for E3 and the now late Comdex and the stickershock of the bill would make the most stout person new to it - faint in horror or laugh thinking you were kidding.

Like Comdex, E3's real important meetings are done upstairs in hotel rooms between vendors and retail deal makers. The rest is just all show and glitz, with Devs and Dev hopefuls carrying resumes from one company to the next in the background.

I imagine that when the Game Industry feels the belt tighten with a few continued years of soft sales - they begin to think twice or thrice about E3. I can't imagine anyone wants to be the first to opt out - but once the biggies all start to 'no show' then others will follow suit just like Comdex.

Still - other than Devs and folk remembering the 'good olde" days of Booth Babes and 15 ft tall sculptures of their favorite robots and monsters - As a whole - I don't think the industry will really feel great loss if E3 were to pass into the Grey Haven and be seen no more.

I have to agree with the folks at Forbes - there's a lot more meaningful ways of getting marketing out to the public. And when any tradeshow becomes a meaningless obllgation to marketing folk - I think it spells the eventual end of that particular T-show.

How long E3 will go on - who can say.

i think WOW's success is a double edged sword, on the one hand it shows that a game can be a huge seller, on the other hand it might be snuffing out the other titles that were in development.