Los Angeles Mayor Talks E3 Retention

The newly expanded E3 expo is to not only return to its former size and scope, but is also confirmed to remain at the Los Angeles Convention Center for at least three years. The Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau has confirmed that it will remain at the LACC until 2011. The bureau estimates that more than 33,000 room nights will be sold due to the 2009 expo, generating more than $18 million in revenues for the city and employing more than 470,000 Los Angeles residents in the hospitality and technology industries. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) recently confirmed that E3 2009 will take place June 2nd to 4th and would be expanded back to something like its pre-2006 scale. The previous year’s two events had been widely criticized for their small size, stricter attendance policies and lack of glitz. Although it is still unclear to exactly what degree the 2009 event will resemble the expo at its most excessive, ESA officials promise that the changes will include increased booth sizes, increased qualified audiences and an expansion of the companies eligible to participate. IDG World Expo, which has co-operated E3 since its inception in 1995, recently announced it was abandoning its rival E For All event in order to concentrate on E3. "There is much to be said about a convention of this magnitude returning to the entertainment capital of the world," says Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. "The video game industry is one of the few industries in the nation that continues to show signs of growth, and ESA’s three-year commitment to Los Angeles is a testament to our city’s formidable hospitality and technology sectors."