Every year, E3 seems to get bigger, not to mention busier. In fact, it was just recently announced that more than 70,000 people attended this year’s Expo, and I believe it. The lines were huge, the hallways were crowded, and sometimes moving through the crowds was a struggle in and of itself. That’s E3, though, and it simply is what it is.
Gaming is big business as we all know, and millions are spent on marketing the biggest and brightest titles out there. And, when it comes to creating their E3 booths, some companies simply won’t skimp and opt to pull out all the punches they possibly can. This results in some of the flashier and more memorable booths the show has to offer, including a select few that will go down in history and never be forgotten by those who attended.
Last year, my favourite booth ended up being Konami’s, which was dedicated to Pro Evolution Soccer 2016. It wasn’t the flashiest and didn’t have the biggest LED screen, but what it did have was atmosphere, and an idea that seemed to fit its one game like a glove.
[zergpaid]If you missed last year’s article, what Konami did was set up a small English pub at the far side of the Los Angeles Convention Center’s South Hall. Amidst the flashy jumbotrons, streaming demos, in your face trailers and loud crowds of E3 2015, it sat as a quaint and quiet place to sit down, rest for a few minutes and play some digital footie. Plus, it offered those who made appointments to see the game free beverages.
This year, Konami did something different and decided to skip building a booth in favour of moving their Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 showing to a meeting room above the show floor. It was a smart, wholly sensible and more than fine move, but it took away the potential for a repeat victory of our best booth award. That said, even if Konami had built something, they would have been hard pressed to have bested this year’s winner.
So, while last year’s winner won’t be appearing on this list, we’ve chosen booths from 3 companies that stuck out most to us over the course of E3 2016. We saw many, many, impressive set-ups on the show floor, but these 3 certainly went above and beyond in one way or another.