The official press release regarding the future of the E3 convention came down from The ESA today. It is largely uninformative and has the aroma of a hurriedly-put-together attempt at spin about it.
Highlights include:
To better address the needs of today’s global computer and video game industry, the 2007 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3Expo) is evolving into a more intimate event focused on targeted, personalized meetings and activities …
“The new event ensures that there will be an effective and more efficient way for companies to get information to media, consumers, and others,” said Lowenstein.
Lowenstein said, “It is no longer necessary or efficient to have a single industry ‘mega-show’. By refocusing on a highly-targeted event, we think we can do a better job serving our members and the industry as a whole, and our members are energized about creating this new E3.”
Additional details about the new E3Expo event will be forthcoming in the next few months.
The release is even helpfully “pre-blogged,” with phrases like “said Douglas Lowenstein, President of the ESA” and “the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced today,” which add that extra, certain something that make it so much easier to wedge into a news story. I’ve always wondered why an announcement from a company would need to include language suggesting that the announcement contains an actual announcement.
But back to the story at hand: There apparently still isn’t one. The “official” release contains almost no information whatsoever, and aside from what that painful absence of fact alone may tell us, The ESA is being mum about why exactly their multi-million dollar industry spectacle needed (or was forced) to be immediately downsized.
Hopefully we’ll be able to bring you an update later in the day, after we make a few calls.
