Electronic Arts Will Not Have A Booth At This Year's E3
For anyone looking for E3 floor space, a big vacancy just opened up. Game behemoth Electronic Arts announced today they’re skipping the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Though EA will still hold a pre-E3 press conference, they will not have their usual big noisy booth with playable demos on the show floor. Instead they’ll be showing off their big reveals at EA Play, a convention of their own design in Club Nokia at LA Live, which is across the street from the convention center E3 is held in.
This is pretty significant, and people are wondering if it’s a sign. One of the largest video game companies in the world, with brands synonymous with video gaming, is skipping what has traditionally been the biggest video game trade show. Is it an indication that E3’s relevance in today’s always-connected media is waning?
The Entertainment Software Association, the group that organizes E3, released a statement in reponse to the news, which they shared with Gamespot: “EA’s player experience underscores E3 as the global launchpad for video game news, announcements, and excitement. As always, we continue to look forward to their contributions to E3 week and can’t wait to play the games ourselves.” Sounds like they weren’t listening.
The good news here: E3 is a trade show and closed to the public, but EA Play is free — provided you can get a ticket from them. EA will be making announcements soon on how these tickets can be acquired.