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Activision, Vivendi end membership with ESA and ditches E3 plans

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, more commonly called E3, was once the biggest gaming event and conference in the world. Times have changed though, as E3 decided to downsize by cutting the glitter and glamour, turning it into a smaller event aimed at the press.

One would expect that games publishers would welcome the cost savings of bringing things down to a smaller scale, the upcoming E3 is steadily losing support from the biggest forces in gaming.

Activision Blizzard said that it will not participate at the E3 event this year, issuing a statement that read, “After careful consideration, Activision has decided not to renew its ESA membership for business reasons and will not be participating in any official E3 activities. We appreciate the work that the ESA has done over the years in promoting the interactive entertainment industry with state and federal governments and wish the ESA best of luck with the show.”

Instead, both Vivendi and Activision will display its upcoming games at a hotel in Santa Monica around the same time as E3. Several other publishers and developers, such as NC Soft, Her Interactive, Foundation 9 have also revealed that they do not intend on being a part of this year’s expo.

Some even figured that id Software, which one would presume would have a lot to show off with its next-generation Rage engine, won’t be a part of this year’s show.

Analysts are pointing at the change of leadership at the Entertainment Software Association as a reason behind the falling support of E3. The changeover from previous president Doug Lowenstein, regarded as an incredibly savvy and proactive figure, to now president Mike Gallagher is thought to be one not welcome by game makers.

“Lowenstein was a very savvy industry veteran who paid attention to the goings-on in the industry and cared what the community had to say,” Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said in a Kotaku story. “The new person…is far less knowledgeable and sophisticated about this industry than Doug was and is going to make some rookie mistakes.”

E3 will take place this July 15 through 17 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.