E3 'headed for extinction,' says Pachter

by Chris Greenhough { Jul 21st 2008 at 2:00PM }

Watch out, E3! According to Wedbush Morgan analyst and man Michael Pachter, you could soon be heading the way of the Dodo, the Quagga, and decent Sonic games. In a note to investors titled "Entertainment Software: E3 2008 Review: The Bad, The Great, and the BORING!," the famously quotable analyst concluded that the latest E3 was a crushing disappointment, and described the event as "ill-timed," "boring," and "headed for extinction." Oh, Pachty, you sure know how to make a major industry event down on its luck feel special!

The show, which has been criticized by other industry figures of late, isn't beyond saving itself, but Pachter thinks it should be pulled back to no later than early June, and that "the spectacle should be restored by increasing the size of the show space."

To give this piece of news a Nintendo slant, we'll add that Pachter deemed Nintendo's presentation to be "just right", but did note the grumblings from core gamers that not enough announcements were made for them.

Tags: e3-2008, e308, industry, michael-pachter, pachter

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

John B. @ Jul 21st 2008 4:15PM

Good riddance.

John B. @ Jul 21st 2008 4:15PM

Good riddance.

John B. @ Jul 21st 2008 4:15PM

Oh crap.

Sora @ Jul 21st 2008 4:25PM

Just right? Yeah, maybe for investors who profit from the Wii printing money from casual games.

Jason @ Jul 21st 2008 4:40PM

Patcher is right, from a business standpoint Nintendo's press conference was good. They showed off a bunch of stuff that will leverage their penetration into the casual market. None of the announcements were particularly exciting "us" but they are the kind of things that will allow Nintendo to keep "printing money"; that is VERY exciting to investors and, like all other companies, that is all that matters to Nintendo

Sonic_13 @ Jul 21st 2008 7:42PM

Nintendo has stated that it will reveal it's "major" titles in other ways. This actually has me excited because no longer will major news come just once a year, but it could come at any time.

Nintendo has already started using Nintendo power for revealing big new third-party games (which I think is awesome and hope they continue doing and for first-party titles) and they will likely be revealing new games at future events (ex. TGS, the Germany show) or even a special Nintendo exclusive event.

I actually think that this is the way to go. Reveal new games in new and different ways.

Sonic_13 @ Jul 21st 2008 7:39PM

I would agree with this. Three major companies have outright stated that they no longer feel E3 is that relevant (Nintendo, EA, and Ubisoft) and pretty much every other company, it seems, has stopped using E3 for really major announcements too.

E3 was once a game-changing (no pun intended) conference. Now it's not much of anything.

WhatIsThatThing @ Jul 22nd 2008 1:24PM

Seriously guys, Sonic and the Secret Rings was not that bad.

Maze Young @ Jul 30th 2008 11:54AM

I agree with Jason, Well, one thing came out of E3, both Rockband 2 and Guitar Hero:World Tour are making their big announcements as to the new features, songs and play leading up to their release dates. Lot's of money, lot's of hype... So, which one rocks more? Check this out –clashOrama/E3 puts the two game trailers side-by-side and lets you
watch a vote. Which will become the King? Which will be the all-time best when it's all said and done? And, if you only had enough cash in your pocket to buy one...give it up...which one do you fire up
for a good rock out session?