WEBVTT - Is E3 Still Relevant? 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.240 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios, 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:14.440 How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.520 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:19.400 How Stuff Works and I heart Radio and I love 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:23.599 all things tech. And today we're gonna tackle a topic 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.840 that has become sort of an annual tradition in tech 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:32.120 journalism in general and video game journalism in particular, and 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:37.080 that is to discuss E three the Electronic Entertainment Expo 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:41.080 and whether or not there's still a place for E three, 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:45.800 Is it still relevant, and to really get an idea 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:49.320 of why we have this conversation, and we've been having 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:51.760 it over and over. I mean, the earliest article I 0:00:51.840 --> 0:00:55.600 found with that sort of title was from two thousand twelve, 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.120 and I have no doubt that there are even earlier versions. 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:02.280 But to understand why we're asking that question, it would 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:05.440 behoove us to know more about the history of E three. 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:11.800 So back in several video game publishers came together to 0:01:11.920 --> 0:01:16.800 create what was called the Interactive Digital Software Association or 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:19.959 i d s A. This is what would eventually become 0:01:20.120 --> 0:01:24.000 the E s A, and that is the organization that 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:26.840 oversees e three, but in the original days it was 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:29.280 the I D s A. And the purpose was to 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.800 form a group that could create industry standards for rating 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.840 video games, in other words, to indicate whether or not 0:01:36.000 --> 0:01:39.200 the game was appropriate for certain age groups, so very 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.319 similar to the m p A, a rating system for movies. 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:44.319 So if you've ever picked up a video game and 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:47.720 you've seen the rating system on there, that's from this organization. 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:50.800 And this was in response to the threat of the 0:01:50.880 --> 0:01:54.600 United States government stepping in and regulating the industry itself. 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:59.000 Joe Lieberman had proposed the Video Games Rating Act, so 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.000 to get ahead of this and to make sure that 0:02:02.240 --> 0:02:06.000 the industry could remain in control of its own destiny, publishers, 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.080 lots of the major video game publishers got together and 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:12.920 created the I D s A and the ratings system. 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:16.720 And the I D s A didn't just stop with 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:20.120 the rating system. That was its primary purpose for coming 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.680 into being, but they came up with another idea in 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:26.120 addition to that, and that was to hold a trade 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:30.960 show exclusively for console and computer games. And this was 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:35.079 to address two big challenges. The first was a practical 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:37.840 challenge for I D essay itself. They needed to have 0:02:38.040 --> 0:02:41.840 some way to fund this organization. If it was going 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:44.520 to exist to give out these ratings, it had to 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:48.240 have enough money to operate. So how could the organization 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:52.400 generate money on in that instance? And and the trade 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:55.760 show was tried and true method, so that was reason one, 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:57.680 a practical reason just to keep the I d s 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:02.320 A going, But reason too to do with visibility. Previously, 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:06.040 game companies would exhibit at shows like the Consumer Electronics 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:09.480 Show or ce S in the United States, but that's 0:03:09.480 --> 0:03:13.280 an enormous show of all consumer electronics as a broad 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.640 approach to electronics, and video games would get lost in 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:20.080 the shuffle. They were often pushed off to a remote location, 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:23.040 far from the main traffic of the floor. Sometimes they'd 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:26.359 be put in environments that were really unsuitable for showing 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:31.440 off hardware. There's a famous story that Sega was determined 0:03:31.480 --> 0:03:34.160 not to go back to c e S after being 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.760 put in a tent in a parking lot and during 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:41.480 a rainstorm, that tent proved to be less than waterproof, 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.080 and so water was leaking down on video game consoles 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:48.200 and that was unacceptable. So video game developers and publishers 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.480 found it really difficult to meet with retailers and press 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:54.360 in order to get their products into stores and to 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:56.960 promote their products. In other words, they were spending a 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:58.920 lot of money going to these trade shows and they 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:01.720 weren't getting much out of it. And back in those days, 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:05.280 which would be the early to mid nineteen nineties, video 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.240 games were more of a niche product. Even the best 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:12.160 selling video game of nine, which was at least according 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:15.840 to most sources, Mortal Kombat three. Even that could be 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:19.480 measured in the hundreds of thousands of copies sold. That's 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.800 not bad, but today when you look at best selling games, 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:27.240 those can hit several million copies sold. So it seemed 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:30.560 like a good idea to organize an industry focused event 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.159 just for video and computer games. Companies would get an 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:37.840 opportunity to showcase new hardware and new video game titles 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.520 to retailers and to the press, and not have to 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:42.479 worry about being shoved off in a tent in a 0:04:42.520 --> 0:04:45.039 parking lot far from the main show floor of an 0:04:45.080 --> 0:04:47.880 event like C E S Now. At first, the I 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:52.240 D SAY approached Gary Shapiro, that's the head hauncho of 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:55.080 the C E S Trade show in those days, and 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.880 the I D S a reps made their case to them. 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:02.080 They actually were first saying, can we get better, uh, 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:04.720 you know, better consideration at c S. Can we get 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:09.440 a better arrangement? But Shapiro's response was fairly dismissive. He 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:14.680 essentially said, you guys aren't making quote unquote real consumer electronics, 0:05:14.760 --> 0:05:17.159 so they're not going to get a prime spot for 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:20.919 the show. And word of this meeting between the I 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:24.560 D s A and Shapiro got back to a guy 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:27.840 named Pat Farrell, and Pat Farrell was in charge of 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:32.080 the Game Pro magazine and it was also at that 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:36.000 time part of a media conglomerate I d G, and 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:39.880 I d G already had experience running big industry events. 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:44.520 I d G would run mac World. So Farrell expressed 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:47.680 interest to the I D S essay for pitching a 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:51.560 trade show idea to them. But then that information got 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.960 back to Shapiro, you know, the guy running C E S. 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:57.640 And when he heard that, he had a sudden change 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:00.719 of heart, or more likely he since the opportunity to 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:04.240 make some real cash, and he announced that C E 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:08.719 S intended to launch its own games only trade show, 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:12.360 and the I D s A was kind of delighted 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:14.760 because now they had two different parties that were eager 0:06:14.800 --> 0:06:17.120 to do this thing that they wanted to do, and 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:22.359 so they invited both parties to pitch their ideas to them, 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:24.840 and the two pitches were about as different as night 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:29.560 and day. Shapiro's team was citing facts and figures and 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.800 arguing that the prestige of c E s could raise 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:36.279 the profile of the video games industry in general. Meanwhile, 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:38.719 Pat Ferrell's pitch was from the point of view of 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.800 video game companies, and more importantly, it included an offer 0:06:42.839 --> 0:06:46.400 of partial ownership in the trade show itself. The I 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.960 D s A would get around a five percent take 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:54.359 of the gross revenue generated by the trade show. Shapiro, 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.720 on the other hand, pretty much was demanding full ownership 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:00.159 of the trade show, so it was kind of a 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:02.440 no brainer. The I D s A chose to side 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:07.080 with the I D G slash Ferrell approach. Now that's 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:09.840 not to say that all the companies in the video 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:14.720 game industry were totally on board. Nintendo and Microsoft, for example, 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:18.000 two big names. Though Microsoft had yet to launch its 0:07:18.040 --> 0:07:20.880 own video game console, it was still very much involved 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:24.080 in the video game world. Both of those companies chose 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:28.280 to continue exhibiting with the c e S approach. In fact, 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:30.720 they said, well, we'll go with the c e S 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:34.960 backed video game trade show. At least at first, that's 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.520 what they've said. Now that would change pretty quickly, but 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:40.240 it did show how in the early days there was 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:42.960 a lot of doubt about this endeavor and whether I 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:45.640 d G could pull it off. Farrell came up with 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:48.960 the name Electronic Entertainment Expo, and he would call it 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.400 e CUBED for short, but everybody else called it E 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:56.240 three and that name stuck. The original plan was to 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:58.920 hold the event in Las Vegas, and it was going 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:05.480 to be in mid summer. However, Shapiro planned the alternative 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:09.720 games focused show, the ce S backed version, and that 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:13.760 was going to happen in Philadelphia in mid May, so 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:18.120 he was setting a show that would predate Farrell's show. 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:20.360 He felt like he was being out maneuvered. Farrell that 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:24.200 it is, and he was worried that if companies would 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:27.840 commit to going to Shapiro's show, no one would commit 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:31.400 to E three. So Farrel did something fairly crazy. He 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.880 called up the Los Angeles Convention Center and he asked 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:38.480 if they had the availability for the exact same dates 0:08:38.679 --> 0:08:42.920 as Shapiro's Philadelphia show, and it just so happened to 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:47.040 have those dates available. So that's when Farrell decided he 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:49.680 was not going to hold the event in Las Vegas, 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:52.160 and it would not be in Midsummer. Instead, it would 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:55.319 be in mid May in Los Angeles, which he thought 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:59.480 would be really attractive for Japanese companies because it would 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:02.520 be just a single flight into l a X, as 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.079 opposed to having to land in l a X and 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.599 then transfer to a different flight to fly all the 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:09.800 way over to Philadelphia. And then he got on the 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:13.360 horn and started to invite as many companies as possible 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:17.760 to exhibit at E three, and he figured there's no 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:20.640 way that these companies would be able to have a 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:24.760 presence at two shows simultaneously. They would have to pick 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.559 either E three or the C E S backed games 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:32.680 only show. Now, Microsoft and Nintendo continued to hold out. 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.320 They continued to back the C E S side, but 0:09:35.400 --> 0:09:39.200 he got lots of other companies on board, and Shapiro 0:09:39.320 --> 0:09:42.000 meanwhile found that it was getting harder and harder to 0:09:42.120 --> 0:09:45.920 fill his show with companies. He had Microsoft and Nintendo 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:48.960 on board, but everybody else was signing with E three, 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:53.199 and he couldn't fill out the entire convention hall with 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:58.440 just two companies, so ultimately he decided that he had 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:04.040 to cancel this Philadelphia exhibition, and he reportedly called up 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:07.640 Farrell and said you won, and then hung up, And 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:10.560 so E three became the only game in town, so 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:14.640 to speak, pun intended, and that's when Microsoft and Nintendo 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:18.359 finally came over, because they really had no other alternative 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.920 at that point. Now, once it became the only game 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.440 trade show in the United States, E three suddenly had 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:27.640 no problem selling exhibition space in general. In fact, it 0:10:27.720 --> 0:10:30.200 ran out of show floor space at the Convention Center 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:33.480 pretty quickly, and then they began to reserve hotel ballrooms 0:10:33.480 --> 0:10:36.640 in nearby hotels, so it began to expand beyond just 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:40.920 the convention Center. Sega and Sony were both really big 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:44.440 presences at the At the show, they took up most 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:47.720 of one of the two main halls at the convention Center, 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.600 and they were both showing off new video game consoles, 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.560 the Saturn and the PlayStation. Nintendo showed off a very 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:58.280 early prototype of what would become the Nintendo sixty four, 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:02.760 but was mostly focus son S E S games at 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:08.080 that At that particular show, also they launched a beloved 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:11.880 platform called the Virtual Boy. And yes I'm being tongue 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:13.960 in cheek there. The Virtual Boy is one of the 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:17.280 famous flops from Nintendo, but they showed that off at 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:20.000 that first E three and you can actually see what 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:22.920 the first E three looked like. A guy named Anthony 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:27.160 Parisi uploaded more than three hours of video footage that 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:31.880 he shot during that show and it's available on YouTube. Uh. 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:34.400 He has footage of several press events which at that 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:38.040 time were much more business like in their presentation. I 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.559 mean think like power point presentations and guys in suits 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:47.400 speaking in monotone to a crowd, not very dynamic. And 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:51.720 later on those would obviously become much bigger budget showcases 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:55.040 for companies and have a lot of theater wrapped up 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:59.200 in it. But early in the E three history it 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:03.439 was much more business oriented. Many booths, once you were 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:05.280 on the show floor, would actually have a sort of 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:08.600 stage show to kind of attract people to the various 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.480 booths and and show off the games. And of course, 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.040 even at the very first E three there were the 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:17.079 so called booth babes, women who had been hired as 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:22.520 spokesmodels for those companies. The official estimate of attendees for 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:26.480 that first E three was at fifty five thousand people, 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:29.520 although Farrell says that the number was probably more than that. 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.480 It was enough to capture the attention of the mainstream media, 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.640 and thus it elevated the trade show in the eyes 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.000 of many, and it achieved one of the big goals 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:40.600 that the I D. S A had set in the 0:12:40.640 --> 0:12:44.120 first place. The I D s A eventually would be 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.360 able to buy out I D G and become the 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:49.440 sole owner of the E three trade show, so the 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:52.480 show would grow, though there were some problems. Not every 0:12:52.559 --> 0:12:56.640 year was a huge success. The third and fourth E 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:59.280 three had to move to a different venue. It ended 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:02.280 up moving here in Atlanta. That was because there were 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:05.520 scheduling conflicts with the Los Angeles Convention Center that had 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:07.840 already been booked for different events during the dates for 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:11.760 E three and UH the Atlanta shows were not as 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:15.679 well attended. It was only a temporary move. It kind 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:17.840 of bums me out because if it had all worked out, 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:19.960 I may be able to visit E three and still 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:22.560 sleep in my own bed each night, but that's not 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:25.679 how things turned out. The booths would slowly get more 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:30.600 elaborate over the years, becoming more immersive experiences. So instead 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:32.559 of it just being you know, a couple of polls 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:35.880 and some curtains to divide one booth from another, now 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:39.200 they have booths that are made to look like the 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:43.360 environments that were inspired by various games like sky Rim 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:46.880 or Fallout or whatever. Booth babes would continue to be 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:49.839 a thing, and the show got bigger and more elaborate 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:53.280 and more audacious each year, becoming more like a party 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:58.040 like atmosphere until two thousand seven. At that point, the 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:01.520 e essay, of course, was what the I D. S 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:06.000 A evolved into re evaluated the show, and the reason 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.319 they did that was because companies were starting to raise 0:14:08.360 --> 0:14:11.679 concerns about the expense around securing and building out a 0:14:11.679 --> 0:14:14.600 booth space at E three, because now it was costing 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:17.760 millions of dollars to do it, and there was a 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:22.120 growing number of attendees from smaller outlets like blogs, and 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:25.640 they were making the show floor really crowded, and more importantly, 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:29.800 they demonstrated a very small return on investment. That if 0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:33.160 companies were catering to these bloggers, but the bloggers had 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:37.040 just a few or relatively few number of readers, then 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:40.280 that was not a great return on the investment of 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:42.920 time and effort on the part of the publishers, and 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:47.760 it was making really hard for industry attendees like retailers 0:14:47.840 --> 0:14:50.520 and larger media outlets to actually get their jobs done 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:53.840 because of these crowds. And there were several companies that 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.440 were considering withdrawing from the show entirely, and that could 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:01.480 have caused a cascade effect with more companies pulling out, 0:15:01.520 --> 0:15:03.320 like if the big companies pull out, then there's a 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:05.960 chance that the medium sized companies will pull out, and 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:07.880 then a chance that the smaller ones will pull out. 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.280 As such, the e s A decided to pare down 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:13.960 the two thousand seven and two thousand eight E three 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:16.760 events to kind of prevent this from happening and to 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:19.680 make it more manageable, and so two thousand seven it 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:23.480 would become the E three Media and Business Summit. And 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:26.680 it sounded like it wasn't much fun. It sounds like 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:32.200 it really wasn't like it was very much business oriented 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:36.560 and and uh also decentralized. It was spread out among 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:39.400 a host of hotels and meeting spaces in Los Angeles. 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:43.520 It wasn't in a centralized convention center. It was also 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:46.720 invitation only. There was an attendance of just ten thousand 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:49.960 people for those shows, and it was all trying to 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:53.560 meet these concerns, but the approach backfired. People began to 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:57.680 question whether or not E three really meant anything. They 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:00.240 felt that it wasn't raising the profile of the video 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.480 games anymore. So in two thousand nine, three would expand 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:06.920 back again, opening up for a much larger attendance, although 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:09.600 they still limited it. They capped it at forty or 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:14.400 fifty thousand really now since then the event has grown, 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:19.840 but some companies have withdrawn from E three. Nintendo no 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:23.080 longer holds live press events at E three. They elect 0:16:23.120 --> 0:16:28.480 instead to do a video presentation called Nintendo Direct. The 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:32.240 company does still maintain a presence on the show floor itself, however, 0:16:32.800 --> 0:16:35.800 Starting in two thousand fifteen, the EESA began to release 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.800 a limited number of tickets for the general public for 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:42.400 E three, and in two thousand seventeen that would blossom 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:46.080 into the policy of selling several thousand public passes to 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:50.040 average video gamers. That has prompted some people like me 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.640 to really dread going to the show because the added 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:56.760 crowds make it super hard to get work done. I 0:16:56.800 --> 0:17:00.520 don't begrudge anyone having a good time. It's just hard 0:17:00.600 --> 0:17:04.480 to cover stuff if you can't get to any of it. 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:06.720 And it's a similar concern that led to the E 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:09.879 s A making that big drastic change in two thousand seven. 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:11.800 But so far it doesn't look like it's going to 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:15.560 repeat that now this past E three. The two thousand 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:20.720 nineteen E three saw Sony abstain from attending. That was 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.480 a big blow to the conference in general. I mean, 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:29.719 having a major console and games publisher, UH decide not 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:33.160 to go to your trade show is not great. Although 0:17:33.200 --> 0:17:36.359 there were plenty of publishers that were showing off games 0:17:36.400 --> 0:17:40.720 that would play on Sony PlayStations, Sony itself wasn't there. 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:44.480 Other big names like e A have also opted to 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:48.360 hold their own press events on their own terms rather 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:51.240 than run a press conference at E three itself. Moreover, 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:53.879 companies like Blizzard have been holding their own events for 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:57.040 several years, and there are other big conventions like Packs 0:17:57.320 --> 0:17:59.680 that are designed from the start to be events where 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:02.359 video game enthusiasts get a chance to try out games 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:04.960 before they come out, and it gives game publishers the 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:07.879 chance to connect with their fan bases. So all of 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:11.000 this leads us to ask the question, is E three 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:14.120 still relevant with all of these changes that have happened. 0:18:14.320 --> 0:18:17.000 The original intent was to create a space where the 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:20.800 relatively niche hobby of video games could be in the spotlight. 0:18:20.960 --> 0:18:26.600 But today the video game industry is enormous and its mainstream. 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:30.119 It's no longer the relatively obscure business that was the 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:34.840 laughing stock of the consumer electronics industry back in According 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:39.240 to the market analysis company new Zoo, the industry the 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:43.680 video game industry in general, earned just shy of one 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:48.880 thirty five billion dollars in revenue in two thousand eighteen. 0:18:49.200 --> 0:18:54.399 That's about three times as much revenue as the film industry, 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:57.119 So video games are making three times as much money 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:02.200 per year as movies. That's major in the Internet age, 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:06.520 when it is relatively easy and less expensive to produce 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:09.160 a video or do a live stream and to reach 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.119 a huge audience on your own schedule, and where there 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.480 are already other events to cater to touching base with gamers, 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:18.800 does it make sense to keep holding E three or 0:19:18.880 --> 0:19:22.359 should something change? Well, when we come back, I'll be 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.560 talking with Shannon Morse, who attended E three two thousand, 0:19:25.680 --> 0:19:29.480 nineteen to get her perspective on the event and its future. 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:40.720 But first, let's take a quick break al right, guys, 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:45.200 joining me on this episode is a dear friend of mine, 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:49.000 a superstar when it comes to the world of reporting 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:54.480 on technology, hacker extraordinaire, and just an incredible person. One 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:57.360 of the most friendly people in tech I've ever had 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:01.040 the pleasure of meeting, Shannon Morse. Shannon, welcome back to 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:03.960 the show. Hi, Jonathan, thank you for having me back on. 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.960 It's super exciting to be here. I love whenever we 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:10.040 have you on. You always have great insight. And uh 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:13.080 and I'm not joking, folks. She's like, they're like a 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:15.159 couple of people on a short list of people in 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:18.480 tech who have been consistently awesome. Shannon's on that list. 0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:21.280 Tom Merritt is on that list. There are very few 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:24.800 and far between, so you are a treasure. Shannon tom Merritt's. 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:28.200 Tom Merritt is one of my mentors, so I definitely 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:31.119 look up to him and I will thank you. That 0:20:31.240 --> 0:20:33.879 was really really sweet of you to say absolutely absolutely. 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:36.080 I mean, it's it's all true, so it's easy. But 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:39.240 more importantly, for the purposes of this show. We are 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:42.359 going to talk to Shannon about her experience at E 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:46.040 three nineteen, because, as I've already explained, I did not 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:49.040 go to that show. But Shannon, you did attend E 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:51.800 three twenty nineteen. Can you tell us what you were 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:54.960 there doing and you know what was your experience like 0:20:55.160 --> 0:20:58.040 this past year? Yeah? Sure, So I have been to 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:00.560 E three in the past, back in like twenty fourteen, 0:21:01.240 --> 0:21:03.680 so this was my second time going to E three 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:08.159 as a video host slash producer. So this time I 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:10.159 was there with n Video g Force. They have their 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:12.600 own YouTube channel, and I was just doing a bunch 0:21:12.600 --> 0:21:15.840 of interviews with a bunch of game developers. Uh So 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:19.840 I was specifically with them for one day before the 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:22.840 show floor opened up to the public, and then the 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:25.040 second day I asked them if I could just stay 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:27.240 an extra day and I ran around on my own 0:21:27.680 --> 0:21:30.800 to get my own vlogs for my personal channel, which 0:21:30.840 --> 0:21:33.199 is YouTube dot com slash Shannon Morris. I hope you 0:21:33.200 --> 0:21:36.679 don't mind that I promote at all, but yeah, but 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:38.920 the second day it did open up to the public 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:42.320 after I believe it was one PM, So I got 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:46.639 to experience both sides, one being it just for you know, 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:50.639 trade workers, people that are in the game developer trade 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:53.080 or there as press. And then I also got to 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:54.960 see it opened up to the public, so it was 0:21:55.040 --> 0:21:58.520 kind of interesting seeing it from both perspectives and being 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:01.480 on the show floor to watch that happen. Uh. And 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:03.480 that was the first time that it was open to 0:22:03.520 --> 0:22:06.840 the public, since it wasn't originally when I when I 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:09.440 first went to E three. Yeah, yeah, when the last 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:11.119 time I went to E three, I think it was 0:22:11.200 --> 0:22:15.119 the second year that they started selling tickets to the public. 0:22:15.359 --> 0:22:18.840 You know, as you say, for years, it was industry 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:21.560 only and you were only going in if you were 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:26.080 a developer, publisher, if you were a retailer or an 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:28.320 analyst in the industry, or you were pressed. That was 0:22:28.440 --> 0:22:33.879 essentially the group. And then press got real lucy goosey. Uh, 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:36.200 just like at C E S where we have everything 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:39.800 from the big outlets, you know, the big the really 0:22:39.840 --> 0:22:44.600 big established media companies too, you know mom and pop 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:48.080 blogs that are run by you know, Joe or Jane 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:51.480 video gamer extraordinaire. And that's the only reason why I 0:22:51.520 --> 0:22:53.320 was ever able to go. So I'm not I'm not 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:56.199 denigrated to get it by any means, but it was 0:22:56.240 --> 0:22:59.000 a very different experience when I saw that too, like 0:22:59.080 --> 0:23:02.920 the idea that opening it up and having a very 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:08.520 enthusiastic gaming public come in. What was your perception of 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:11.320 how that was received? Because I have my own thoughts, 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:14.240 but I don't want to I don't want to color 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:17.960