John Riccitiello
Following a lacklustre E3, Electronic Arts' CEO, John Riccitiello has said that something needs to change. He has been joined in his criticism by Acclaim's Dave Perry - who will delivering a keynote at next months Game Developer Conference in Leipzig. Ubisoft and SEGA of America have also piled in.
Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, Riccitiello said, "I hate E3 like this. Either we need to go back to the old E3, or we'll have to have our own private events."
Perry states that, "I've got to agree with the comment by John about E3. If there aren't dramatic changes to the format and staff, I'm never going again."
His comments were echoed by Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America. "E3 this year is terrible," he said. "The world used to come to E3. Now it's like a pipe-fitters' show in the basement."
Sega of America's president, Simon Jeffery, was a tad less scathing. He said that he doesn't want a return to the excess of yesteryear, which would see his company spending $5 million on a booth, but that the event needs to do something to bring back retailers.
These sentiments have not passed by the American Entertainment Software Association, which puts on E3, but it isn't promising too much. "We just need to decide where the dial needs to go", said Mike Gallagher, president of the ESA.
The ESA announced that it would scale down E3 back in 2006 due to spiralling costs for attendees.
For our part, SPOnG hopes that this feeling of disappointment among the industry means we can look forward to a bit more excitement from Leipzig this year.
A final point to note is that - currently at least - EA, Ubisoft and SOA are all still members of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which organises the E3 conferences. With companies such a Activision, Vivendi (okay, Activision Blizzard), id Software and LucasArts all recently leaving the association, is EA's criticism a sign of its imminent departure?
Sources:
San Francisco Chronicle
TechRadar
Speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle, Riccitiello said, "I hate E3 like this. Either we need to go back to the old E3, or we'll have to have our own private events."
Perry states that, "I've got to agree with the comment by John about E3. If there aren't dramatic changes to the format and staff, I'm never going again."
His comments were echoed by Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft North America. "E3 this year is terrible," he said. "The world used to come to E3. Now it's like a pipe-fitters' show in the basement."
Sega of America's president, Simon Jeffery, was a tad less scathing. He said that he doesn't want a return to the excess of yesteryear, which would see his company spending $5 million on a booth, but that the event needs to do something to bring back retailers.
These sentiments have not passed by the American Entertainment Software Association, which puts on E3, but it isn't promising too much. "We just need to decide where the dial needs to go", said Mike Gallagher, president of the ESA.
The ESA announced that it would scale down E3 back in 2006 due to spiralling costs for attendees.
For our part, SPOnG hopes that this feeling of disappointment among the industry means we can look forward to a bit more excitement from Leipzig this year.
A final point to note is that - currently at least - EA, Ubisoft and SOA are all still members of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), which organises the E3 conferences. With companies such a Activision, Vivendi (okay, Activision Blizzard), id Software and LucasArts all recently leaving the association, is EA's criticism a sign of its imminent departure?
Sources:
San Francisco Chronicle
TechRadar
Read More Like This
Comments
Daz 21 Jul 2008 15:41
1/1
I said it from the first announcement, take away the woman from E3 and you might as well take away the cars from the Grand Prix