E3 Exhibitor Numbers Dwindling

CVG is reporting on the full list of exhibitors at this year's E3 (now the E3 media Expo), and things are looking quite a bit slimmer than in past years. As you'd expect given the change in tone, the smaller development houses are much thinner on the ground than they used to be. Only 32 companies will be making the trek to Santa Monica, and you can probably name them all off the top of your head. "Most of the big players seem to be there but it's a big way off last year's exhibitor list which exceeded 400. There are also only two independent developers listed, id Software and Foundation 9 Entertainment, which is disappointing seeing as one of the biggest reasons for the down-scale was to give smaller devs a chance in the spotlight. This year's E3 will consist of an exhibit hall in Santa Monica's Barker Hanger as well as company-run demos in nearby hotels. As always third-party press conferences will be held in a common location while platform holders will hold their own bashes - though the big three are yet to make any announcements."

*ALL* trade shows suffering?

[neonfrog]

I work in the photography industry and their big US show in NYC, Photo+ Expo, has been getting smaller year after year. It is not because photography is declining, it is because the internet is a GREAT way to release and showcase new products and tech. At least that's what the big photography distributors are telling each other.

Spend gobs of money on a nifty trade show booth and extremely expensive union guys to help you plug in your power strip -OR- go internet viral for less money? Scramble to get a product released by the trade show date, or release it on its own time-table when it can compete most effectively? The choice seems clearer every year.

Trade shows as venues for marketing direct to customers have been dwindling for a while. Trade shows as a networking function are even getting dated. You don't need to be on your feet for 3 days in some other city to figure out who you want to partner with anymore.

Does anyone know of any industries where trade shows are growing?

Small devs and E3

[hansamurai]

Well, there are only going to be 4000 invitations sent out. From the smaller developer's point of view, there's no point in paying the high cost to get a booth, transporting yourself and everything you need for the booth, getting some game demos set up, etc. just for 4000 people who are much more interested in seeing what Nintendo, Capcom, and Konami have to offer anyway. It's a sad truth but there are better and cheaper ways to reach those kind of numbers. Last year when there were 60,000 attendees, it was probably worth it, but we're looking at less than 10% of last year's numbers in terms of booths and attendees. Sounds like just what the E3 planners wanted.

Re:*ALL* trade shows suffering?

[theStorminMormon]

Does anyone know of any industries where trade shows are growing?

Look at PAX - the Penny Arcade Expo. No, I'm not stupid. I read the phrase "industry trade show", but my point is that as traditional reasons to hold those types of trade shows decline, new reasons may emerge. PAX may not be a trade show, but I think it covers a lot of the type of ground that trade shows (at least, gaming and hard-ware related trade shows) may have covered.

PAX gets bigger every year because the convention has inherent worth, and the trade-show aspect of it is an add on. IF you have a convention that draws people in crowds, then you have a motivation for vendors to show up.

Summary: the vendors aren't enough to draw the crowd anymore, but if you can get a crowd there for another reason, the vendors are going to want in too.

Re:*ALL* trade shows suffering?

[JoelMartinez]

you hit the nail on the head. At least in the software industry, I think people are starting to realize that the technical content you can get at a conference is readily available from the web ... and the networking (which had always been the real value in the first place), is easily trumped by simply going to local user groups and getting some recognition by having a good website/blog and posting good content.

Re:Small devs and E3

[hansamurai]

That's a good point, as the E3 of old was saturated with so many non-journalists and/or bloggers. However, that would also allow game information to be spread in a lot of unique ways that won't be as readily available anymore. I guess we'll have to wait and see how it all pans out, because this event is really not the same as it was before.

Re:*ALL* trade shows suffering?

[Cadallin]

I've been kind of wondering about that. IF I was an executive of, say, Nvidia, or ATI/AMD, or Microsoft, or Nintendo, or even some small Indie/Asian Developer,I would think that PAX would be a GREAT place to exhibit and hold promotional events (second perhaps only to the major Comic Cons in Japan). You've got a huge event, with lots of attendees, who are interested in the products of your industry, that gets LOTS of press coverage, and is likely to get even more now that the major trade show for your industry has just downsized, how is that not a huge opportunity?

Who gives two shits about E3? Its only going to have a couple thousand people. Why not do something at PAX which has tens of thousands of attendees, a large percentage of which will post about the event on their Website/Blog/Podcast/Vidcast/Etc. Why not get them to write about YOUR company too?

Is anybody actually doing this at PAX?

If..

[Mockylock]

If they really wanted the numbers to rise, and keep things fresh, they need to change it up a bit.
 
Possibly MOVE the fucking show to somewhere else, at least a different area? Last year it was look at as one of the most dull shows, with very few stand-out booths.
 
I understand that it's the original home and such, but I'm sure quite a few places would like to mix up the flavor and spend less money in accomodations.