E3 Organizers Release 2005 Attendance Figures

According to representatives from the ESA (Entertainment Software Association) trade body, the organizers of last week’s E3 expo, the annual event, based in Los Angeles, attracted a record breaking 70,000+ industry professionals from 79 different countries. The organizers also documented that approximately 400 exhibitors occupied 547,000 net square feet of exhibit space, showing more than 5,000 different products – 1,000 of which were being shown for the very first time. This included no less than four console hardware debuts, in the form of the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Revolution and Game Boy Micro. Although the start of the show was somewhat affected by a power cut which shut down the media center and lost power to a number of the upstairs suites on Wednesday morning, delaying media registration, the power issues were resolved by the afternoon of the Wednesday. The E3 educational conference and workshop program also proved a considerable success, according to E3 organizers, with places selling out completely this year. The program featured a faculty of more than 175 industry experts, speaking on a wide variety of subjects. The 2006 Electronics Entertainment Expo event has now been officially scheduled for May 10th to 12th at the same location, the Los Angeles Convention Center.