OCT. 23, 2008 • After wandering in the sub-10,000 attendees business summit wilderness for two years the Electronic Software Association (ESA) announced that it would ramp the Electronic Entertainment Expo back up to a 40,000-attendee event for 2009. ESA chief-executive Michael D. Gallagher said E3 would be smarter and less wasteful than in pre-2007 years, but would shoot for the same promotion values of the old format.
Impact: Perhaps more business opportunities presented themselves when 40,000 to 60,000 industry hands made the trek to E3. Despite its flaws, the old E3 drew bus loads of people, which also drew van loads of mainstream media. It understandable that the ESA wants to get back to what it lost. The question remains, has E3 already irrevocably lost its mojo to Leipzig.
