Rumor Alert: Will the Public be Invited to the Next E3?

Report Suggests ESA Board is Considering

Back in the old days of TSSZ News, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, E3, was something to seriously look forward to.  Every company in the gaming industry that mattered showed up, and there was plenty of new developments on all fronts.  The expo itself was a giant spectacle with incredible booths stocked with booth babes.  In that time, a lot of the news didn’t make it on the Internet instantly–you had to actually buy a gaming magazine or wait until the evening to get your E3 fix, as the gaming media didn’t have blogs or InstaNews™.  They also had to walk fifteen miles to their computers to update…both ways!

But times have changed.  In its contracted form, the E3 Media and Business Summit, now facing the likes of the Games Convention in Germany and even the Penny Arcade Expo, seems less of an appointment stop on the road in gaming development.  The event now is much more subdued and professional.  Sonic fans got a pretty healthy fix of information from it this year, but a lot of other gamers didn’t.  Fan frustration pared with developer gripes with the scope of things now (and even with the Electronic Software Association Itself, which puts on the event) have created a conundrum.  Does the expo go on, or should it fold?  And if it goes on, how will it do so?

This Kotaku article gives credence to the belief that E3 will continue next year–it’s how that should pique your interest.  According to the report, the ESA board is considering a move to not only make E3 the grand party that it was again, but to do it with access open to the public.  How much access wasn’t discussed in the article–we could see a situation similar to the Tokyo Game Show, with journalist access one set of days, and public access for another.

But will that even work?  Consider the current state of this year’s E for All expo, with barely anybody showing up to the public event.  PAX 2008 has thus far been dubbed a success, with plans to expand to Boston in 2010, but rarely do gaming companies play their best hands with a very scrutinizing public eye in tow.

What do you think?  Should E3 become a public event?  If so, how much open access should there be?  Comment below, and we have a poll up right now asking your opinion.