As part of an overhaul to the convention, the ESA is looking to change E3 into a more consumer focused event, similar to the likes of Gamescom. Initially shown with a proposed floor plan for the 2020 show and reported by GameDaily.biz, next year's E3 is hoping to bolster the number of visitors by around 10,000 people.
The presentation by the ESA shows the drastic changes to the hall design, breaking away from the systematic plan E3 2019 used and instead heading toward a more open activity-based look for 2020. In this new hall plan, eight "experience hubs" are shown offering different ways to keep visitors entertained whilst they are at the event, an approach the ESA calls "queuetainment". As well as the new design, E3 2020 is looking to bring new opportunities to fans by having paid celebrity and influencer activations, such as the proposed concept of seeing the Los Angeles Lakers compete in a basketball video game. These new changes the ESA has put forward highlight the organisations intention to transition the event toward being a fan, media and influencer festival, much alike Gamescom.
The reason being for these drastic alterations to E3 are most likely due to the low number of entries the event saw this year. Shown in a tweet by Daniel Ahmad, senior analyst at Niko Partners, the number of visitors to the year's current major gaming exhibitions can be seen, putting E3 dead last, by a hefty margin of nearly 200,000 entries. The proposed changes to E3 will allow for another 10,000 visitors to attend the show next year however, even with increased visitors, there will still be quite a substantial difference between E3 and the other major shows.
Do you think the proposed changes are the right decision for E3's future?