E³
| Electronic Entertainment Expo | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Video games |
| Venue | Los Angeles Convention Center |
| Location(s) | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Country | United States |
| Inaugurated | May 11, 1995 |
| Most recent | June 2016 |
| Attendance | 50,300 (2016) |
| Organized by | Entertainment Software Association |
| Website | |
| https://www.e3expo.com/ http://www.e3insider.com | |
The Electronic Entertainment Expo, commonly referred to as E3, is an annual trade fair for the video game industry presented by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). It is used by many video game publishers and accessory manufacturers to introduce and advertise upcoming games and game-related merchandise.
E3 used to be an industry-only event; individuals who wished to attend were required by the ESA to verify a professional connection to the video-game industry.
E3 is usually held in late May or early June at the Los Angeles Convention Center (LACC) in Los Angeles; the most recent event was held from June 14–16, 2016. The show in 2017 will be held from June 13–15, 2017.
Before E3, game publishers went to other trade shows to display new or upcoming products; these include the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and the European Computer Trade Show. As the game industry grew rapidly during the early 1990s, industry professionals felt that it had outgrown the older trade shows. According to Tom Kalinske, CEO of Sega America, "The CES organizers used to put the video games industry way, way in the back. In 1991 they put us in a tent, and you had to walk past all the porn vendors to find us. That particular year it was pouring rain, and the rain leaked right over our new Genesis system. I was just furious with the way CES treated the video games industry, and I felt we were a more important industry than they were giving us credit for." Sega did not return to the CES the following year, and with the founding of the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) in 1994 most other game companies followed suit.
The first E3 was conceived by IDG's Infotainment World and co-founded by the Interactive Digital Software Association (now the ESA). It coincided with a new generation of consoles, the release of the Sega Saturn, and announcements of the upcoming PlayStation, Virtual Boy and Neo-Geo CD. Although specifications for the Nintendo Ultra 64 (later renamed Nintendo 64) were released, no hardware was displayed. According to Eliot Minsker, chairman and CEO of Knowledge Industry Publications (which produced and promoted the show with Infotainment World), "Retailers have pointed to the need for an interpretive event that will help them make smarter buying decisions by interacting with a wide range of publishers, vendors, industry influentials, and opinion leaders in a focused show setting."
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