Neither fish nor fowl.

That is the predicament that E3 now finds itself in as the dust settles from last week’s summit. There was a palpable sense of frustration at the structure and logistics from all participants, from publishers like ourselves to the working press and financial analysts. Soulless and lacking an epicenter, the fragmented layout gave no indication whatsoever that we are the fastest growing entertainment medium in the world. While I am not sure I want to revert back to the old days of excess and one-upmanship, I do know that this format isn’t working…

Looking ahead to the future of E3, here’s what I do know:

•    We’re confident that we can work with the ESA to make this right.  There are important meetings ahead that we think will be substantive and be productive in finding the right path forward.

•    Let’s invite the community.  With the right planning, involving our biggest fans in E3 would bring back some of the raw passion the event has lost.

Whether it’s E3, or whether it’s in our forums, my belief is bringing in the fans helps us to create better games and bring new ideas to the market.  On the EA SPORTS World forums, our producers are now regularly interacting with consumers – our games are better for it, and it improves the fan experience.  We’d love it if every game was perfect, but in all my years in the industry I’ve never seen a game with zero bugs.  Because of the fans, we’ve already addressed a handful of issues in NCAA Football and NASCAR, and if we can create an environment to continue to get our games in the hands of you, our fans, sooner, then I’m all for it.

Cheers,
Peter

P.S. Random thought – do you think we might have to do a running change on the Madden packaging this year??