Perry: E3 is an embarrassment
"The concept is broken, it's expensive, consumers are ignored," says Acclaim exec
David Perry, founder of Shiny Entertainment and now chief creative officer at Acclaim, has joined the chorus of industry execs slamming E3, calling it "broken", "stupid" and an "embarrassment."
Last week, EA's CEO John Riccitiello declared that he hates the current format for the annual trade show, and Ubisoft's Laurent Detoc branded the event "terrible."
"I've got to agree with the comment by John Riccitiello, about E3. If there aren't dramatic changes to the format and staff, I'm never going again," said Perry, speaking to GamesIndustry.biz.
"The concept is broken, it's expensive, messages are diluted, consumers are ignored (remembering that the future of this industry is direct connections with consumers – not retailers), the ticket policies are stupid, and if the entire industry worldwide doesn't participate, it's not real anyway."
Perry said that the opportunity to show the industry off to potential investors has gone with the change of format, and that the Game Developers Conference is the only event in the US to highlight the passion and energy of the industry.
"I used to bring major investors to E3 to get them excited about our industry, which worked every time. Now it's just an embarrassment.
"Thankfully we still have GDC to bring them to, if they want to see the talent, passion, and energy this industry has," he said.