Following last week's E3, 27-Year industry veteran and leading games developer Dave Perry has slammed the E3 concept, calling the event "expensive, stupid and not real", echoing remarks made by E3 boss John Riccitiello.
"I've got to agree with the comment by John [Riccitiello] about E3," Perry told TechRadar, adding, "if there aren't dramatic changes to the format and staff, I'm never going again."
Virtually attends
Perry has given speeches and exhibited games at just about every E3 since the event began in the mid-1990s.
However, he tells us that he "didn't bother going this year, and I not only did I get my week back, but (thanks to all the technologies that the press use) I'm at every event, every meeting and see every product while sitting with a cup of coffee in my office.
"MUCH better than actually being there!"
E3 is broken
So, in Perry's opinion, what are the problems with E3 in the current scaled-back format?
"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."
A fairly damning summation, we're sure you will agree.
GDC is where it's at
Perry is adamant that San Fran's annual Games Developers Conference (GDC) has replaced E3 in terms of importance, adding:
"I used to bring major investors & and 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."
For more on info on Dave Perry's past and current projects (or Dr.Perry, as we should really refer to him, as he has just been awarded an honourary PhD. from Queens University in Belfast) check out his website at DPerry.com
