The Show Must Go On

If there's one thing that the videogames industry needs, on an ongoing basis, it's a strong set of public events in each region of the world. This isn't because developers and publishers should spend ever more money on dizzying stage shows for the sake of it. It's because the industry needs focal points to generate excitement among, and connect with, those people who matter the most - the people that buy games.

Admittedly, this year has been something of an oddity by anybody's standards. E3, by far the calendar's most spectacular event by some margin, turned the lights down low, and unless you're a frequent inhabitant of the specialist gaming press — which most gamers sadly are not — the resulting impression was rather dim.

Sure, the usual raft of announcements was made, a host of preview sessions were written up, and one or two indiscreet interviews made for a few industry headlines.

But even the conferences seemed flat, bereft of the fanboy element that would usually greet the slightest wave of a Sony or Nintendo hand with loud applause.

The biggest concern, as a result, was the distinct lack of mainstream coverage of an event that's previously fuelled not just a core gamer frenzy, but also some crucial, if basic, awareness on the part of the wider, non-traditionally-gaming audience out there.

After all, now that audience is increasingly important with the new gamers being welcomed into the mostly Nintendo-branded fold, and this isn't the time to shrink the spectacle of games shows.

It's the time to expand them instead, to give core gamers ever more reason to evangelise to their non- or newly-gaming friends and colleagues, family members and partners, because the entry level now is so much more socially acceptable.

Perhaps this is the idea that Messe-Leipzig has latched on to, and having seen the success of Games Convention at home, decided to transplant the format to a new region and inaugurate Games Convention Asia this past week.

Choosing Singapore, a city-state within a five hour flight of virtually the whole Asian population, was an interesting choice — especially given the timing of the well-established Tokyo Games Show.

But where TGS seems to speak almost exclusively to a Japanese audience, the Singapore government is determined to turn its country into an Asian gaming hub, ploughing cash into interactive media and a technological infrastructure, and attracting more and more games companies.

The resulting show? An interesting, humble beginning for what could become an increasingly accessible and important event for the region over the next few years - and the attendance easily exceeded the 53,000 that had been hoped for.

The Conference that sat alongside GCA also attracted some key speakers, and certainly the prospect of doing business with key Asian players is enticing. While local companies face similar issues to European business in terms of localisation and varying game tastes, there have also been some extraordinary success stories, and basic numbers that are simply unreal.

For example, Shanda, a Chinese online games publisher, has 500 million registered users, nearly a fifth of which were considered as active in the first quarter of this year. Nexon Corporation in Korea boasts numbers on a similar scale, as well as some success in transferring its games to the West.

True, they may not have the same ARPU as other countries, but the use of alternatives to straightforward subscription model yields more than enough to warrant upwards of USD 2 billion market valuations.

And while the likes of Ubisoft and EA have spent the time and effort building up teams locally in Asia, there's still plenty of opportunity for business to be done by other parties.

Crucially, GCA public show — free to attend this year — gave a local audience the opportunity to spend some time with the goods, to go away and talk to their friends about them, and evangelise further about the industry for which Asia seems by general consent to become the biggest market for in the next decade.

So rather than downsizing the jewel in the industry crown, maybe the ESA should have opened up its event to the public, instead of worrying about simply cutting costs and the number of liminal retail attendees?

Certainly the future of E3 now is crucial in terms of the role it will play in representing the industry to a wider audience — and if the blend isn't right, you can bet that more than a few Leipzig-based pairs of eyes will be watching for an opportunity to bring the GC brand to a third continent.

And if they do, what are the chances that the Canadian government would pass up the opportunity to take a shot at establishing North America's biggest gaming show? That really leaves it up to the publishers and developers as to which events, and how many, they want to support.

In the end it will be down to the marketing teams to decide how best to embrace the new audiences turning to games, whether that's spending money on mainstream advertising — few could doubt the pulling power of Nicole Kidman — or encouraging wider attendance at shows across the world.

But one thing's for sure — Leipzig has proven the widespread public appetite for big events, in Europe at least, and we shouldn't disappoint them.