E3’s first year breaking away from a gaming industry-only audience was bound to stir those tied to tradition. As we’ve been going for years, we were wondering how our readers were affected by the change. This covers only a fraction of the 68,400 E3 2017 user segment, but we consider it handy for our ongoing conversations meant to understand marketers’ sentiment.
Naturally, we tackled news consumption first.
Prepare for the onslaught of #E32017 announcements! How are you getting your information this year?
— AListDaily @ #E32017 (@alistdaily) June 12, 2017
With info going directly to the game-loving public comes more amplification and noise. As far as announcement interactivity and volume, Brandwatch has declared Microsoft the company with the most social mentions this year.
Of course, the crowd conversation was unavoidable:
Hearing grumbling on the #E32017 floor about the flood of consumers. How do you feel about it?
— AListDaily @ #E32017 (@alistdaily) June 13, 2017
Marketers may have had the advantage of connecting with core gamers, but wall-to-wall attendees affected the usual business, meaning tricky show floor navigation, missed appointments and noise. This was a year to work out the foot-traffic kinks.
While the changing crowd disrupted physical movement, the notorious tech disruption making waves in so many other industries was not a theme this year. A majority of gaming companies left VR for the entertainment industry and stuck with tradition.
Once industry folks got a chance to cross the convention floor and take everything in, we gauged whether you were able to get your business done. It still feels pretty split. We’ll have to revisit this question later.
You must have something to add if you went. Send us your feedback on Twitter @AListDaily.
It's about time to wrap up #E32017. How productive was the convention for you this year?
— AListDaily @ #E32017 (@alistdaily) June 15, 2017
We had an exceptionally productive #e32017. Probably most successful in 20 years of attending despite no booth. Heard similarly from others.
— Mario R. Kroll, MBA (@spindoctormario) June 16, 2017