E3 US-only, says Ubi-chief
Games staple gone Stateside.
E3 - the legendary, soon-to-be-reborn staple trade show of the games industry calendar - has been dubbed as "only for the US" by Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot in Paris tonight.
Speaking at a conference to kick off the the two-day Ubidays event, Guillemot said, "E3 is now only for the US, so we wanted to do something to help everybody see our products. So we decided to do E3 but in France and call it Ubidays."
GamesIndustry.biz reports that around 600 business bods from all over Europe are currently hob-nobbing at Ubidays, which will serve to fully announce Ubisoft's line-up for the rest of the year, including first looks at Splinter Cell: Conviction, Assassin's Creed and Tom Clancy's End War.
Guillemot's comments mirror many currently being made in private in the British trade in the run up to the first "new" E3, which will see severely restricted access to the world's gaming press and promises to be a far cry from the giant stands and willy-waving oneupmanship exhibited by the likes of Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft in recent years.
Smart money is now backing Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany, as the emergent showcase event not only for Europe but the global trade. The German show lands in late August this year, following E3's mid-July date.
Watch for more from Ubidays tonight and tomorrow.