Metamorphosis of the gaming industry at E3



06/09/2016 3:39 PM


There is not much time left before the world's largest exhibition in the gaming industry, which will be held in Los Angeles. E3 starts its work next week on Tuesday, June 14, which means that we are waiting for another dive into the world of new products in the virtual entertainment industry. How has it changed in recent years?



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E3 has been held since 2006. It has always been a bright, spectacular show, which was based on the major announcements and demonstrations of new high-profile video game projects.

Over the past 10 years, this exhibition has become the most important gaming event, which has almost no competitors. Despite the relentless competition of publishers and companies, the show unites all participants and fans of the video game industry.

Recently, however, CNBC reporters had a talk with analysts of the video game market and found that in a short time, E3 can change dramatically.

As many experts note, even the 2016 edition will be very different from events of the previous years. It is about a list of announced participants, as well as the sort of discoveries to be announced at E3 2016.

In 2015, all visitors' attention has been focused on high-profile game projects: Fallout 4, Star Wars Battlefront, Halo 5, The Last Guardian, which many fans had no thought of ever seeing. This year, however, the show will be centralizing on the new hardware solutions.

It is expected that Sony and Microsoft will finally announce their new console versions, starting a new round of console wars. There is no reliable information about characteristics of Xbox One Scorpio, but PS 4.5 will almost certainly support virtual reality and 4K, and thus will be much more powerful than the original PS4. 

A great deal of attention will be paid to new games and VR technologies. Sony is going to demonstrate its PlayStation VR helmet. Companies such as Oculus, HTC and the Samsung are also going to show off at E3. Each of the companies has its own VR-deice, and will surely tell of updates.

Eric Handler, senior investment analyst at MKM Research, is convinced that this exhibition will give a grounding to the VR industry: "Virtual reality will take several more years to become mainstream, but I believe that the foundation of the industry will be laid in this year's E3. Now, it is still at the stage of demonstrating the virtual reality capabilities to people."

There is another major difference in addition to the technological bias at upcoming E3 2016. This year, it will not feture such giants as Electronic Arts and Activision. Activision decided to just miss this year's show (some games of the publishers will still be shown, but with help of partners’ platforms). EA, however, is going to organize its own rival event literally opposite E3.

This decision has caused concern among many experts. They are worried that this would be a "beginning of E3’s end" as the largest and most important exhibition in the video game industry. So, Michael Pachter, director of investment research at Wedbush Securities, believes that EA’s desire to attract more attention by leaving E3 may in the long term become a threat to the entire industry. 

source: cnbc.com


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