Over 15,000 more gaming fans will now have access to arguably the most important yearly gaming event, as the ESA (Electronic Software Association) has announced that it will sell tickets to event for the general public.
While the public has always been able to attend in some way or another — 20,000 fans attended the E3 Live event that took place outside of last year’s conference, and 4-5,000 fans have been invited as prosumer guests over the last few shows — this marks the first time that the organization will actively open up the floor to the masses.
Beginning Monday, February 13, those interested can visit the E3 website at e3expo.com at noon that day and purchase tickets for the 3-day event. Early bird purchases of $150 will be awarded to the first 1000 registrants, with the price jumping to $250 after that.
Each year, the event draws thousands of media and business professionals to experience the latest in upcoming video games and technology. Wile attendee numbers have generally gone up, the show’s exhibitor list has shrunk, as evidenced by both EA and Activision, among others, leaving the show floor last year for their own events. EA will bring back its EA Play event again for 2017, taking place just a few days before the expo.
That left a lot of empty floor space in 2016, with large areas of blank carpet that begged for human interaction.
As PR and publishers now have to plan for increased visits to their booths, there could be less wiggle room (and elbow room) for those in the Media and Business side that have appointments to get to. Many products will still remain behind closed doors, too. Either way, the expanded show isn’t necessarily a negative. With the growth of social media arguably rivaling traditional outlets, perhaps growing a grassroots buzz campaign through public interaction is a more viable (and cost effective) way to build up hype for a product.
We’ll find out in June, when E3 returns.
Source: E3, Gamespot
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