Pachter: E3 Was A 'Terrible Disappointment'

While Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter had previously said that imminent price wars was to be the "key takeaway" from this year's E3, with the show now over, Pachter more glumly has said "the key takeaway from this year’s E3 was that the ESA made a mistake in downsizing the show." "In past years," said Pachter, "publishers and console manufacturers used E3 to address the needs of their core constituents: media, retail, investors, and consumers. By choosing to eliminate any potential for a consumer element to the show, the ESA chased away much of the television media. By scheduling the show two months later than in the past, retailers stayed away. By scheduling the show during the calendar quarter financial quiet period (Microsoft, Sony, Activision and THQI did not meet with investors), only limited access was provided for buy and sell side analysts." "We think that the traditional 60,000 person trade show may have been too large to manage effectively," he continued, "but think that the new 3,000 person show was a terrible disappointment. The logistics were terrible (media events accommodated only 300 people, with throngs of media turned away), the Santa Monica locale was too spread out (travel times of more than 20 minutes between venues), and the media was not offered the spectacle it so craves." "We believe that the lower costs for the show were more than offset by the loss of millions of dollars of free publicity, and are hopeful that the ESA moves the show to a more central location in the future, and restores the audience to a manageable, but spectacular size," Pachter concluded.