Changes come to perhaps the largest stage for gaming and technology
Gamers and consumers everywhere camp at their computers, watching and absorbing every bit of detail from every possible announcement and trailer presented. This year's event, slated for June 13th-15th at the LA Convention Center, is going to be a bit different. It was announced that for the first time in the history of the expo, the general public will be allowed direct access to the event. Prior to the announcement, the public was never officially welcomed in to the expo, having to have special credentials to gain access (Breitbart News, 2017).
However, according to Breitbart News on February 9, 2017, the definition of the required entry credentials was relatively broad. Here is what we know so far about how the public can gain access to the once closed off expo.
Public access
Starting at 9 am pacific time on the morning of February 13th, somewhere in the ballpark of 15,000 tickets will be sold to the public (Forbes, 2017). Be warned -- if you are not part of the first 1000 tickets, you'll be paying more. According to Forbes, the first 1000 tickets will be $150, and after that, the price jumps to $250. Forbes advises that right now, there isn't a named location to buy tickets to the event as of yet, but if you subscribe to the E3 email list you can receive updates about this situation and more.
Concerns
On a typical year, the E3 event tends have about 50,000 spectators of all roles (Forbes 2017). The question is: how are they going to accommodate 15,000 new attendees. Will they make certain things private, accessible only to industry members, etc? Will they cap off attendance of certain panels and presentations, requiring tickets or special passes to get in?
These are certainly things to take into consideration if you plan on attending the event. Space and movement, let alone access, are going to come at a premium.
Stay tuned for more updates as they become available, and further event coverage when E3 begins.
