For me this has changed a lot over the years. (this is based on my experiences in the UK)
I started attending events over 10 years ago. I managed to get two tickets for a Saturday for my wife and I. We turned up and walked onto the show floor – that instant I knew I would be attending shows for the foreseeable future.
It was loud, and busy. There was so much atmosphere. It was incredible. I was solely into my AAA consoles (Xbox) at the time. They all had stages, with things going on all the time. It was crowded and all the up-coming games where there. Merchandise being given away on every corner.
Over the years it continued much the same, the venues changed and got larger. Indie stared to feature a lot more and eventually got their own area which became my go to for all shows, they have so much passion for there creations. AAA was dying off, the larger publishers/companies stopped doing stages and eventually sponsored stands and didn’t come along themselves.
Social media/influencers started to make their impact it was easier and cheaper to put something online than it was to organise an in person presence at a show. The covid hit and all in person events got cancelled, social media took over.
Once covid allowed everyone to get back to “normal” shows started up again however they could no longer attract the AAA’s or larger publishers – the atmosphere from the old days had gone, large open spaces replaced once packed stages. Queues shrunk and the noise died out.
There was only one real survivor – Indie Games – my now go to for all shows I attend. Because of indie games I have made friends, got contacts, a lot of fond memories (https://justabout.com/wasd/what-was-your-favourite-wasd-moment-from-past-shows-tell-us-for-dollar4#post-17030) and played some amazing unique games. I still miss all the noise from the older shows and hope it does recover but I will always love my Indies.
Why do I love shows? – it’s the passion and atmosphere. Which begun with AAA and now Indie.
