WEBVTT - Is E3 Still Relevant? 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:13.680 stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:13.720 --> 0:00:16.680 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer at 0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:19.400 I Heart Radio and how Stuff Works and I love 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:26.560 all things tech and In mid November, Sony, the company 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:30.280 that makes the PlayStation four game console, announced it would 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.519 not be taking part in the two thousand nineteen E 0:00:33.840 --> 0:00:38.240 three Conference E three, which essentially stands for the Electronic 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.159 Entertainment Expo, although I think they just call themselves E 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:44.360 three these days anyway. It's a big annual industry event 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:48.559 that takes place in Los Angeles, California. It's not the 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.080 largest video game industry conference in the world. There's one 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:55.680 called Games Common Germany that has about three hundred thousand 0:00:56.000 --> 0:01:01.280 more people attending it than E three, but E three 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.399 is usually viewed as one of the most important video 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:07.240 game conferences of the year. It puts a spotlight on 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:11.320 video game companies and titles, as well as hardware manufacturers. 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:14.720 So let's take a step back to talk about the 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:19.000 brief history of E three before we explore the whole 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.839 Sony story here. So, before there was an E three, 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:29.920 most video game manufacturers would showcase upcoming consoles and titles 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.200 at c e S. C e S is another one 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:35.640 of those conferences that used to be known by its 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:39.959 name Consumer Electronics Show, but again they kind of shy 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:42.000 away from that and just called themselves c e S 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:46.000 these days. There was no dedicated conference for video games 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:48.920 at that time, and after the video game crash of 0:01:49.080 --> 0:01:52.320 nine three, it was kind of a question as to 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.560 whether the home video game market would even be a 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:59.360 thing ever again. But then Nintendo came along with the 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:05.160 Famicon also known as the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:09.200 industry would claud its way back to stable ground. But 0:02:09.320 --> 0:02:13.200 for about a decade, c e S was the one 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.240 big trade show where companies could show off their stuff, 0:02:16.560 --> 0:02:19.720 and this was actually pretty tough because there's a lot 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.720 that's going on during c e S, so standing out 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:25.800 from all the other things that are happening at that 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:29.600 same time as a really big challenge. Then we flash 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:34.040 forward by more than a decade really in there was 0:02:34.080 --> 0:02:37.440 an organization coming together. Originally it was called the Interactive 0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:41.560 Digital Software Association, but it would change its name eventually 0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:45.520 to the Entertainment Software Association or e s A. The 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:48.880 e s A as the organization that created E three. 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:52.960 It organized a brand new trade show dedicated solely to 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:56.919 the video game industry. At the time, video games were 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:01.519 not nearly as prominent in culture as they are today, 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.560 so the goal was multifold. It was to give video 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:08.760 game studios and console manufacturers a dedicated event where they 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:13.760 didn't have to buy against microprocessors and TVs and refrigerators 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:16.200 for attention. They would be able to hold meetings with 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:19.120 each other and do business. They would be able to 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:22.720 promote things to the media, and they would be able 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.600 to bring some attention to an industry that otherwise was 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:30.520 fairly obscure. Apart from the you know, legions of dedicated 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:32.760 gamers out there, no one was really aware of it. 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:38.080 So that first event in uh in N had approximately 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:43.000 fifty thousand attendees. I've seen estimates between forty and fifty thousand, really, 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:45.960 and it was an industry and press event, which meant 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:49.200 the general public was not allowed to attend. If you 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:53.840 were not media and you weren't connected to the video 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:57.400 game industry, you were not allowed to go. This gave 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.200 game developers the chance to promote their work direct to 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:03.400 the media as well as the corporate representatives of some 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:06.800 of the larger retail organizations. They got a chance to 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:11.720 talk to these video game developers, and so you had 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:16.400 these conversations where you could actually make deals where the 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:21.320 retail representative would agree to carry those video game titles 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:24.000 and put them on store shelves. Because in those days, 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:27.560 physical copy was really the only option. You didn't have 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:33.120 digital distribution networks. So this conference it filled a very 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:37.120 important role. It gave these video game companies the outlet 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:40.279 not just to the media, but also to the stores 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:44.320 that would ultimately carry the titles. So E three was 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:48.840 all about marketing and sales essentially. That first year saw 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:52.600 Sony reveal the original PlayStation price and release date in 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:57.640 the United States, and Nintendo would show off the Virtual Boy, 0:04:57.720 --> 0:04:59.800 which would go on to become one of the most 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:05.920 hand flops in video game tech history. Sega also announced 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.520 that it would start shipping the Sega Saturn console to 0:05:08.600 --> 0:05:11.839 retailers during the event itself was meant to be a 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:15.440 big sort of press reveal, and there were big video 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:19.640 game companies like e A, Capcom, Acclaim and more that 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.640 were at that first E three. It was considered a 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:24.960 big success when it was all over and the e 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:28.360 s A would continue to hold E three and the 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:32.120 next two events were in Los Angeles, but then negotiations 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:34.360 with venues did not go so well for the next 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.000 couple of years. So typically, if you're gonna throw a 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:41.479 big event, you have to make arrangements years in advance 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.000 to guarantee the space, and the s A was unable 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:50.440 to do that in Los Angeles, so instead E three 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:54.960 for those two years took place in my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. 0:05:55.440 --> 0:05:59.840 It would return to Los Angeles after and no, I 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:02.000 never got to go to E three while it was 0:06:02.080 --> 0:06:04.160 next door to me. I was not working in the 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:09.039 field of tech at that time. In Sega would show 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:12.680 off the Dreamcast, Sony gave some previews of the PlayStation two, 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:16.039 and in two thousand, Microsoft appeared at E three for 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:18.840 the first time to promote the upcoming premiere of the 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:22.720 Xbox Console. In two thousand one, Sego would make its 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:26.320 final appearance as a console maker, though it would continue 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:28.400 to show up as a game developer, it just was 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:31.880 getting out of the hardware business. Nintendo would show off 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:35.599 the GameCube that same year, and the event grew year 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:40.080 over year until two thousand seven. That year, several exhibitors 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:43.280 had approached the e s A with concerns about how 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:47.039 E three was just growing too big and it was 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:51.280 too flashy and too focused on the media. The exhibitors 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.360 felt they were seeing diminishing returns, that the large number 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:57.400 of attendees made it difficult to have any meaningful interactions 0:06:57.720 --> 0:06:59.960 with any one person because you just you were flood 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.680 with people all the time. And the spectrum of media 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:06.080 media had grown significantly. You know, in the in the 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:08.320 old days when it first started, it was pretty much 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:12.560 mostly print publications, so you had gaming and computer magazines 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:16.080 that were in some newspaper reporters that were largely the 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:19.600 press at this event. But by the mid two thousand's, 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:22.800 the Web had really taken over. You know, the print 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:26.600 medium was dying compared to the web. I hate saying that, 0:07:26.680 --> 0:07:29.360 and of course print media is still around, it's not 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:32.560 like it's gone, but the Web was definitely taking the 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:36.680 lead over print, and now bloggers were making up a 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:40.800 larger percentage of the press passes. So the E s 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:43.360 A took a look at these complaints from the exhibitors 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:47.720 and responded by purposefully scaling back E three. So then 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:51.480 the organization announced in two thousand seven E three would 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:55.000 become an invitation only event, and they also it would 0:07:55.120 --> 0:07:58.320 be limited in size. Only ten thousand attendees would be 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:01.200 allowed to go there, including a select you from the media, 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:04.600 and it would not take place at a centralized location 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:07.080 like the l A Convention Center. Instead, it was spread 0:08:07.120 --> 0:08:12.840 across multiple smaller venues across Santa Monica. The response was 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:15.840 not what the exhibitors or the e s A had 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:19.200 hoped for. The reduced media coverage meant that the game 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:24.080 companies received far less attention and therefore very much less 0:08:24.160 --> 0:08:28.240 free publicity, which unfortunately was something that they had been 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:31.800 enjoying without any fear up to that point. So they 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:34.360 found out late in the game that the real audience 0:08:34.400 --> 0:08:37.200 for E three happened to be all those bloggers and 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:40.320 the media professionals after all. So after the two thousand 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:43.600 eight conference, which was also a stripped down, more modest affair, 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:47.280 the s A chose to return to the bigger, Boulder 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:51.960 brassier approach. The two thousand nine conference had forty one 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:56.720 thousand attendees, and the two thousand ten show saw game 0:08:56.760 --> 0:09:00.920 developers like Ubisoft, Konami, and e A hold their own 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:05.800 press conferences, which expanded the media events beyond just the 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:10.800 console manufacturers. They had frequently been holding live conferences, but 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.760 now the game developers themselves were starting to hold their 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:18.640 live press events. So those companies set the precedent for 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:22.160 what we've seen over the years since, when company representatives 0:09:22.160 --> 0:09:25.960 take the stage to show off footage from previously announced games, 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:30.280 all the way up to unveiling exclusive announcements of game 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:35.720 titles that had previously been top secret in Nintendo chose 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:39.120 to skip E three and it held its own presentation 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:43.480 called Nintendo Direct with a prerecorded presentation. This marked the 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.559 beginning of Nintendo sort of backing away a bit from 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:49.840 E three. They would come back in to have some 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.880 space on the exhibition floor, but they would continue to 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:59.120 do their prerecorded UH Direct events rather than holding a 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:02.440 live of event. So they do still show up to 0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:05.040 E three, but they don't hold a live press conference 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:09.880 like Microsoft or until recently, Sony. This helps keep Nintendo 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:13.840 games in gamers minds, and in fact, Nintendo is known 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:17.840 for holding multiple digital events throughout the year so that 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:23.120 it's not dependent on just one major event to impress gamers. 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:26.160 This way, gamers tend to be aware of what's coming 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:31.360 out throughout the year and it's not just one big moment. However, 0:10:31.880 --> 0:10:34.120 uh some people believe that this means that the company 0:10:34.160 --> 0:10:36.640 tends to have less of an impact at E three, 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:41.720 and that means that they don't often feature into the 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:45.319 main conversation you'll often hear from the more recent E 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:51.640 three is the ones like sixteen who one E three, 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:54.480 and it usually comes down to an argument between Microsoft 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:58.480 and Sony, which is kind of infuriating for anyone who's 0:10:58.480 --> 0:11:01.760 a PC gamer and has no interest in console gaming. 0:11:02.240 --> 0:11:06.319 In the e s A made another big change to 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:10.040 E three, one that was seen as either inconvenient or 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:14.120 downright controversial. The organization opened up the conference for the 0:11:14.160 --> 0:11:17.160 first time to the general public. If you wanted to 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:19.440 go to E three, you could purchase a ticket for 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:23.040 between a hundred fifty and two fifty dollars a princely 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.320 some and then you could attend. That would give you 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.680 access to the exhibit floor space, which meant you could 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:32.640 line up for hours in order to get a little 0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:35.800 hands on time with an upcoming video game title or 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:39.640 watch and a non interactive demo. Now, I was there 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:43.120 in and I saw a lot of people waiting around 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:45.480 for half a day to play games like God of 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:50.640 War for about ten minutes. I can't speak to their experience. 0:11:51.040 --> 0:11:54.840 It's possible they all loved it, but to me, it 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:58.360 seemed like a recipe for disappointment. Would you walk away 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:01.520 feeling that those hours in line were well spent? I 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.080 guess if you were making friends in the line, that 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:07.680 would help. As a member of the media, I could 0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:11.080 have jumped ahead of most lines if I had wanted to, 0:12:11.280 --> 0:12:15.320 but I spent most of my time observing, because honestly, 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:18.200 it felt kind of scuzzy to jump ahead. Maybe if 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:20.840 my job was to cover only video games, if that 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:23.360 was all I did, I probably would have jumped ahead, 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:25.000 because it's the only way I would have gotten enough 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:27.720 work done. But I cover all of technology, so I 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.679 felt like I should probably just sit back, let the 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:35.200 other video game journalists actually get in to do their jobs, 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:37.480 and let the people who paid to be there the 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:39.760 chance to play these games, and I would just kind 0:12:39.760 --> 0:12:43.000 of observe. Now that brings us up to Sony's announcement 0:12:43.000 --> 0:12:45.440 that it would not be participating in the three and 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:48.840 twenty nineteen The company will not have a space on 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:52.319 the exhibition floor. There will still be game developers and 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:56.600 the three showing off PlayStation games on PlayStation hardware, but 0:12:56.640 --> 0:13:00.000 there won't be a dedicated Sony space, nor will there 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:04.360 be a live event filled with weird entertainment and video 0:13:04.360 --> 0:13:09.520 game announcements. That Sony Live event was really darn weird. 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:13.560 I'll explain more about Sony's thoughts in just a moment, 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:16.480 but first let's take a quick break to thank our sponsor. 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:28.360 Sony released a statement about their decision to skip E three, 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:32.720 and it said quote, as the industry evolves, Sony Interactive 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:37.079 Entertainment continues to look for inventive opportunities to engage the community. 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:41.320 PlayStation fans mean the world to us, and we always 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:45.160 want to innovate, think differently, an experiment with new ways 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:48.679 to delight gamers. As a result, we have decided not 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:52.320 to participate in E three and twenty nineteen. We are 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:56.240 exploring new and familiar ways to engage our community in 0:13:56.320 --> 0:14:00.079 twenty nineteen and can't wait to share our plans with you. 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:05.240 End quote. Now, that's not that different from what Nintendo 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:09.480 executives said when Nintendo decided to skip holding that live 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:12.520 press event at E three. The big difference here is 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:15.600 that Sony is skipping the whole thing, not just the 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:19.680 live event, and E three is not the only event 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:23.360 that Sony has backed out of. Sony launched at their 0:14:23.400 --> 0:14:28.920 own event called the PlayStation Experience back in At that time, 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:32.280 it was celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the PS one, 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:37.360 But earlier in Sony executives revealed that there would be 0:14:37.480 --> 0:14:41.640 no such event this year in December. So what's the 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:45.080 reason for that. The executives were very candid. They said, 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.760 there just wouldn't be enough new games that are far 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:51.720 enough along in their development to create an experience that 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:55.360 would satisfy fans. So rather than hold an event where 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.440 they might have two or three new titles, many of 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:01.080 which gamers are all are you familiar with? Because they've 0:15:01.120 --> 0:15:04.920 already seen promotional material for these games, that would they 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:08.200 would walk away disappointed and Sony didn't want that, so 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:10.720 they decided that for this year they're going to skip 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:14.800 the PlayStation Experience. One of the discussions going around online 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.680 is that Sony pulling out of E three is another 0:15:18.800 --> 0:15:24.640 sign that the conference overall doesn't really serve a useful 0:15:24.680 --> 0:15:28.800 purpose anymore. It's easier than ever for companies to reach 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:33.479 out over various digital platforms to promote upcoming games and hardware, 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:38.400 from company owned media outlets to twitch streamers, there's no 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:41.280 shortage of points of contact with the general public. You 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:46.040 could even bypass traditional media entirely and still reach an 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:51.160 enormous audience. What's more, by leveraging some of those assets, 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:55.880 like popular twitch streamers. Let's say that Sony reaches out 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.200 to a very popular Twitch streamer and says, I'm gonna 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:01.800 make a deal with you for X amount of money. 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:05.000 I need you to stream and talk about these new games, 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:08.480 and you can be totally upfront that it's sponsored content, 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:11.400 but you will reach a much larger fan base, and 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:14.760 that's a dedicated fan base. And the fan base is 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:19.280 really dedicated and they they the twitch streamers really genuine 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:24.880 and transparent. Then the company can piggyback off the popularity 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:29.680 of the online personality and it's an incredibly valuable marketing tool. 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:34.800 Over at Microsoft, Phil Spencer, who's the VP of Gaming there, 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:38.400 had a different perspective. He said, quote E three is 0:16:38.440 --> 0:16:42.360 an incredible platform to showcase the vibrancy and creativity of 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:46.240 the video game industry. The es A continues to expand 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:49.280 the events reached the fans and the industry, both in 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:52.920 attendance and online, and we look forward to what's ahead 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:57.160 at E three nineteen end quote. Of course, right now, 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:02.160 Microsoft is poised as the only aiming console manufacturer that 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:06.119 will have a live press event during E three. The 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:09.680 stage pretty much belongs to them at this point, which 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.440 could be an incredibly valuable thing. If they don't drop 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:17.080 the ball some crazy way, they kind of win E 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:21.439 three twenty nineteen by default. The question some people have 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:26.440 is is it's still worth winning because meanwhile, some game 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.960 publishers have also tried to pull away from E three 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:33.160 a little bit. Ubisoft has been known to hold off 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:37.160 site events during E three. E A has launched a 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.440 fan event that took place at the same time as 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:43.439 E three, but a different location, so it was not 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:46.920 connected to E three. It was their own thing. Then 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:50.240 there's stuff like Blizzard Entertainment, which holds its own annual 0:17:50.400 --> 0:17:53.800 gaming convention called blizz Con, which started back in two 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.639 thousand five. They can use that as a place to 0:17:57.119 --> 0:18:00.879 announce big developments in their various titles. On top of 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:04.320 those events, there are some held by other organizations that 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.520 offer video game developers a chance to connect directly with 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:11.520 fan bases. So the Penny Arcade Expo, now known as 0:18:11.560 --> 0:18:15.880 PACKS launched in two thousand four. It's a gaming culture festival. 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:20.280 It's meant for gamers to attend, and it connects to 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:25.439 the online Penny Arcade comic. That's the origin for this. 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:27.880 It was the creators of the Penny Arcade comic who said, 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:32.200 we want an event specifically for gamers as a celebration 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:37.280 of gaming. Today. Packs includes multiple shows throughout the year. 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:40.320 What used to be called Packs Prime that was the 0:18:40.359 --> 0:18:43.399 original event, the one that takes place in Washington State. 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:47.359 These days it's called Packs West, but there's also Packs South, 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:52.080 Packs East, Packs Unplugged, which is for board games and 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:54.919 card games, that kind of thing like physical games, and 0:18:54.920 --> 0:19:00.160 then there's Packs Australia. Several video game developers attend events 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.119 this and they give fans a chance to play demos 0:19:03.240 --> 0:19:05.920 and early builds of various games, and they'll even use 0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:10.840 those as places to announce new titles. So it kind 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:14.000 of takes a little bit of the luster away from 0:19:14.040 --> 0:19:17.600 E three. E three is not quite as special because 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:22.040 there are these other events that the companies are using 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:25.800 to make these big announcements. From a media coverage perspective, 0:19:26.160 --> 0:19:29.440 A three seems to be losing some value. There may 0:19:29.480 --> 0:19:32.200 be diminishing returns on the press coverage for E three 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:36.720 moving forward. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that the conference 0:19:36.720 --> 0:19:41.560 has lost all its value, because we are forgetting about 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:44.400 all those meetings that take place at E three, Right 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:48.879 like we tend as the media and as consumers, we 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:53.600 tend to be very much focused on the presentations, on 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:57.440 the video game titles, on the demos, on the booth design, 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:00.119 that kind of stuff, the flashy, forward facing stuff. But 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:02.920 the stuff behind the scenes is still really important. Over 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:07.320 at Kotaku, Jason Schreier and Kirk Hamilton's responded to a 0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:13.359 listener question to the podcast split Screen. They they said, 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.000 are the listener was asking about E three's relevance? Is 0:20:17.080 --> 0:20:19.480 E three still relevant? And their response was more about 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.760 the stuff that's going on off the show floor, namely 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:26.280 those meetings that game developers get with potential publishers, And 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:28.320 it's at those meetings where a company might be able 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:30.760 to land a deal so that the game they've been 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:35.480 working so hard on gets distribution, and publishers in turn 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:39.080 might meet with retailers to make sure the games they 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:42.639 distribute are getting good promotion and placement in stores that 0:20:42.720 --> 0:20:46.560 helps boost sales. They also mentioned that for smaller developers, 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:49.040 getting the chance to share the stage with big companies 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.679 like Sony and Microsoft is a huge deal. So up 0:20:52.760 --> 0:20:56.359 until twenty nineteen, Sony has been known as giving a 0:20:56.520 --> 0:21:00.720 nice stage for smaller developers. They'll feature some of these 0:21:00.760 --> 0:21:05.199 independent games in their major press conference, and that gives 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:09.679 what would otherwise be an obscure little title an enormous 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:14.280 push in the larger gamer consciousness. He could turn something 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:18.280 that would have just faded away into a cult success. 0:21:18.720 --> 0:21:22.400 Of course, this particular episode of split Screen was recorded 0:21:22.440 --> 0:21:26.000 in the summer of eighteen, before Sony had announced that 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:29.119 it was not going to attend E three twenty nineteen, 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:31.639 so that changes things a bit. And I also feel 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:35.400 I should point out that the move toward digital distribution 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:39.080 has made some of those retailed discussions less relevant as well. 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:42.080 There's still a lot of people who will only buy 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:46.399 physical copies of games, but online platforms like Steam and 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:51.359 the various console online shops have become increasingly popular options 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:55.800 for gamers. According to Statista, two thousand twelve was the 0:21:56.000 --> 0:22:01.040 last year when physical copies of games outsold digital copies, 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:06.480 and that year of all games sold were physical were digital. 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:11.719 The following year those figures flipped, and every year since 0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:16.320 digital copies of games have made up an increasingly larger 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:21.400 percentage of sales compared to physical copies. So you're more 0:22:21.480 --> 0:22:24.960 likely to have discussions with Valve about the Steam platform 0:22:25.160 --> 0:22:27.800 than you are with Walmart about where they should put 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:32.080 the Elder Scrolls online display. Kirk Hambleton's on that same 0:22:32.119 --> 0:22:35.040 episode i mentioned earlier, said he felt that E three 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:39.080 was rapidly losing relevance as a media event. These days, 0:22:39.240 --> 0:22:42.960 companies are holding their own announcements and reaching large audiences 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:45.800 through streaming. More and more companies are following in the 0:22:45.800 --> 0:22:48.920 footsteps of Apple, which kind of defined this sort of 0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:52.239 direct marketing back when Steve Jobs was presenting stuff like 0:22:52.320 --> 0:22:55.280 the iPhone in two thousand and seven. Since that time, 0:22:55.480 --> 0:22:59.439 we've seen other companies similarly pull out of big trade shows. 0:22:59.680 --> 0:23:02.840 Micro Soft, which once upon a time held a place 0:23:02.920 --> 0:23:06.400 of dominance at C E S for many years, Bill 0:23:06.480 --> 0:23:10.600 Gates would give the the top keynote at C E 0:23:10.880 --> 0:23:14.000 S and then uh Balmer would give the top keynote 0:23:14.040 --> 0:23:16.359 for a few more years, but the company announced in 0:23:16.359 --> 0:23:18.320 two thousand twelve that that was going to be the 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:20.840 last year it would attend c S. It would no 0:23:20.880 --> 0:23:25.160 longer be part of this enormous trade show. And when 0:23:25.160 --> 0:23:28.160 you step back, you can kind of understand why. As 0:23:28.160 --> 0:23:31.440 these shows get bigger, it gets harder to stand out 0:23:31.520 --> 0:23:34.680 in the crowd. When everyone is holding a press event 0:23:35.240 --> 0:23:39.080 or begging for attention, then it becomes more challenging to 0:23:39.240 --> 0:23:42.720 get any focus for your own announcements. And not only that, 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:47.040 if you hold a specific event at a specific time, 0:23:47.320 --> 0:23:51.280 like a big trade show, then all the companies that 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:53.040 are going to be at that trade show have to 0:23:53.080 --> 0:23:56.760 work super hard to have something to show off on 0:23:56.800 --> 0:23:59.760 a date that wasn't their choice. You know, it's not 0:24:00.040 --> 0:24:02.800 air event. They're attending the event, so they have to 0:24:02.840 --> 0:24:07.560 work for someone else's timeline. And if you get big 0:24:07.640 --> 0:24:09.520 enough to say, you know what, we don't need to 0:24:09.560 --> 0:24:12.879 do this, you can step back, and then your company 0:24:12.920 --> 0:24:16.680 can hold its own events on your terms, on your schedule. 0:24:16.800 --> 0:24:19.439 That's a big deal. It means you can wait until 0:24:19.520 --> 0:24:23.840 you really have something cool to announce and show before 0:24:23.880 --> 0:24:26.959 you come forward. You don't have to risk having nothing 0:24:27.160 --> 0:24:29.760 of note to show off or that you might show 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:32.560 off something that's so early in development that there's no 0:24:32.600 --> 0:24:34.720 guarantee it will make that the rest of the way through. 0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:37.640 I have a little more to say about this subject, 0:24:37.680 --> 0:24:40.960 but first let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. 0:24:48.480 --> 0:24:52.120 A second ago, I was talking about CS and Microsoft. 0:24:52.480 --> 0:24:55.399 We'll ce S is still an enormous show and it 0:24:55.480 --> 0:24:58.800 can easily carry on without the presence of Microsoft, and 0:24:58.840 --> 0:25:03.880 it has. But can E three do the same without Sony? 0:25:03.960 --> 0:25:07.440 The PlayStation four has been the top selling video game 0:25:07.520 --> 0:25:12.280