There’s been a lot of talk about the reasons for E3’s downsizing, not the least of it has been speculation that Electronic Arts (EA), the 500 pound gorilla of the video games industry, pushed for the new format. There are a lot of valid, and boring, business reasons for the change. But isn’t it just too convenient that as EA has pulled out their wallet over the last couple of years to get competition killing exclusive sports licenses (NFL, NCAA, NASCAR), the new E3 format will provide even less public exposure for smaller and perhaps more innovative competition? I mean really, after locking up the NFL exclusive license, they even did an exclusive with the Arena Football League to complete the competition lockout! So I wouldn’t be too surprised if taking away a big stage for competion from small fry wasn’t at least mentioned at the board table. The next step will be for EA to announce its own big, glitzy show aimed at the public. I wonder if they’ll partner with Sony or Microsoft on that one…
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