Disney Interactive and free-to-play specialist Wargaming will not attend E3 2016, bringing the event’s drop-out count to four on top of EA and Activision.
Activision has big plans for event season but won’t have a booth on the E3 show floor. Like EA, who is ditching E3 2016 to hold its own exposé, Disney Interactive will be hosting independent fan events. Wargaming has its own reasons: it doesn’t think E3 is worth the trouble.
“From a strictly business perspective, E3 just doesn’t fit our current direction,” a Wargaming spokesman told VentureBeat. “It’s a show that is very centralized on retail product, and as a free-to-play digital download gaming company, we’ve realized that while the show may be a good fit for lots of other publishers and developers, it’s currently not a great fit for us.”
Nevertheless, E3’s overseer, the Entertainment Software Association, isn’t worried about E3 2016’s turnout.
“[E3] remains a very important place to be,” the ESA's Rich Taylor told VentureBeat. “We dominate social media. We dominate a lot of traditional media. It’s a launch pad without peer in this industry and entertainment across the board.”
Certainly, E3 2016 isn’t short on participants, but it’s clear individual studios are becoming less reliant on its audience. Nintendo has boycotted E3 for years and only profited for it, finding new vigor in tailored Nintendo Directs. As independent streams and events become more affordable, events like E3 and PAX will likely continue to lose larger studios unless their organizers can provide new incentive to attend.
With that said, E3 2016 is not entirely without big names. After a successful showing last year, Bethesda will return with another showcase this year. Surprisingly, Take-Two, which traditionally favors smaller reveals, is also planning a big presence.
Thanks, Destructoid.
