GameOn NY: Are We Ready for a Consumer Game Expo?

Electronic Gaming Business, April 21, 2004

It's been tried before, and many of us cringe while recalling past attempts to create consumer expos for games, such as the canceled Ultimate Gamers Expo of last summer and the disastrous Cyber X Games at CES in Las Vegas last January, where organizers actually had to cancel the main attraction, a Counter-Strike tournament, only after the attendees had arrived. Maybe it's time to bring in the professionals.

GameOn NY is promising the industry its first professionally organized consumer video and computer game expo at Madison Square Garden, Nov. 12-14. It is aiming for 20,000 attendees from core and casual game constituencies to demo games at 40,000 square feet of booths sponsored by game publishers and hardware vendors.

"We're not trying to do something we don't know how to do," says Michael Alchus, event director. The 12-year-old company behind GameOn, Expo International has produced over 300 trade and consumer shows, including TechExpo. While this is the group's first foray into gaming, it has hired Martin Currie (former marketing director at GT Interactive and Infogrames) as director of business development and Leila Pflager (iGames, Accolade) as director of marketing. An advisory board includes former Sega COO Bernie Stolar and former Acclaim COO Paul Eibeler.

Shows like UGE failed to materialize because of tepid and later-coming publisher support, and GameOn, too, is battling industry reticence. "All of the publishers have cold water syndrome," Alchus says. "Everyone is afraid to jump in before anyone else does."

GameOn has already made one round of visits with the major publishers, and while most companies "realize the need for a consumer show," they also say "we need someone to get the formula right," Alchus finds. With tentative agreements from three publishers, GameOn is holding meetings at E3 to try to nail down publisher support. "To be successful, we need to have the top ten publishers."

How the Pros Do It

GameOn has secured two tournament series that will culminate at the show, ION Gamers and MLG games, so that the run-up to the show will include regional qualifying tournaments and three to five months of pre-show promotion. Unlike some previous shows, "which were tournaments with trade shows built around them, we're doing it in reverse, an expo with a tournament built in," says Alchus. As well, GameOn will emphasize gaming lifestyle, a massive lounge area at the show that will let gamers hang out and play games, listen to a DJ and game music mixes, all sponsored by retailers.

Most of all, GameOn is courting the media tie-ins to ensure that this New York-based expo leverages its location in the media capital of the world to become a national brand. GameOn is promising live coverage of the event on TV venues and via Web partners. At least one major retailer is on board to promote the show on the ground at its big box chain around the country.

One of the key cross-promotional media tie-ins is a documentary series on gaming, "Got Game," that will run during the holiday season on SpikeTV. The sixpart series takes a look at all aspects of gaming culture, industry and social controversy, but it culminates in an episode that follows a tournament gamer on his trek to the competition at GameOn. Publishers can secure 30-second promo spots on the SpikeTV broadcasts as well as product placement within the show.

Packages range from booth space at $49.95 a square foot to tiered sponsorships. Gold sponsors ($55,000) get 30 x 20 booth space and a full slate of co-marketing exposure. The top package includes SpikeTV promotion and goes for $120,000.

Oh No, Not Another E3!

Cost and toil are among the reasons publishers are thinking twice before committing, Alchus says. "Their main concern is the cost involved in a regional event. They look at our show as a mini-E3 when it comes to the cost of shipping their booths above and beyond the cost of sponsorship." GameOn is trying to get past this concern with turnkey solutions. Publishers can send GameOn graphics, logos and specs for any booth size, and the company will build the booth for them on site.

Alchus also feels that while GameOn is specifically targeted at the east coast, which garners few game events, it has to look and feel like a national event. In addition to securing broad media coverage, GameOn is also planning subsequent events in San Francisco and London.

Even with publisher and media support, the key question remains whether consumers really want to come to a game expo. While core fans in the New York area are likely to attend, Alchus also has his eye on a more casual gaming target.

Well, we're not so sure. Non-core players may pop their head into a GameRiot at Lollapalooza, but we aren't sure yet how much effort either fans or fellow travelers will put into attending a dedicated consumer event. In fact, overall, gaming still hasn't had much luck translating its juice to other media and traditional events programming. From disastrous award shows like the Spike TV VGAs to botched events and tedious TV video game coverage, the industry has not yet broken the code for presenting itself well in other media and venues.