E3 2017 Opens Doors to the Public (For Real)

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You read that correctly: E3 2017 (June 13-15) will be open. To the public. The whole week.

Now, last year’s conference got this bombshell of a ball rolling, introducing a free, “pre-E3” event open to the general public. According to Gamespot and the Nerdist , Rich Taylor (ESA, Senior Vice President of Communications) stated that, in part due to last year’s mammoth excitement and response from the fans, the ESA made the long-asked-for decision to finally open their showroom doors to the wider audience.

Early tickets will go on sale on February 13th (next Monday, as of this writing) for $150, while later tickets will run you a whopping $250. Attendees are limited to 15,000, so if you want to take part in the world’s biggest gaming party, you’ll need to jump on your tickets soon. The ESA website also offers press passes for those with news outlets of their own, though I expect that they will be made available at a later date.

Eurogamer offers a slightly different perspective on the change, noting that in the wake of EA and other major companies’ partial withdrawals from 2016’s conference, E3 lost a significant portion of their funds and that this could be an attempt by the ESA to recoup some of last year’s revenue.

I do agree, except I would add that EA’s 2016 event, EA Play, placed heavy emphasis on connecting with the public, as opposed to only with the press, and will continue that trend this year. Perhaps by welcoming the fans into the larger conference, the ESA can win back the full participation of some of these notable companies.

Are you pumped to go to E3, or are you happy just to stream it from your bed? Let us know below, and, as always, stay tuned and stay shiny!

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