VGXPO 09: The Death of VGXPO?
Nintendo is the only reason the con even happened.
The Video Game XPO has been a staple in the Philadelphia area for almost as long as I have been. Now in its fifth year, the relatively inexpensive show has progressively become larger, in attendance and size. Its explosive growth has enabled the host company, Lunar Tide Communications, to attract larger names, huge booths and massive amounts of gaming-related stuff to purchase. Intel, Nintendo, Dell, Nvidia, MTV Games, these are just some of the companies that have hawked their wares to show-goers in years past. Like the stock market, past performance does not guarantee future success.
VGXPO has contracted. Substantially. Last year most of the vendors, the folks who attempt to sell retro equipments, games and memorabilia, were relegated to the outer rooms. Cramped outer rooms. The show floor was so packed with material that few vendors had the funds available to purchase a booth. This year, all of the vendors were on the floor.
Some of the hilarious shirts available from vendors.
Vendors on the show floor isn’t a death kneel. Not by any means. Hell, there’s always a ton of consumer goods made available at E3, PAX and various other high-profile conventions. What’s killer is that Nintendo was the only major publisher with a booth. Making matters worse, the Big N didn’t invest too much in the show. The company’s booth was almost devoid of titles that haven’t already been made available, let along shown at other conventions. Nintendo’s main attractions – The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and New Super Mario Bros. Wii – are both titles I previewed for TheGameReviews.com already.
There’s a good chance that there were more branches of the US Armed Forces trying to recruit at VGXPO than there were game developers. Certainly of developers I have ever heard of. That’s not an exaggeration either.
What Went Wrong?
After being simply flabbergasted by the show’s 180 I attempted to track down some reps. After I cornered a pair I asked them the obvious question, “What happened?!” The collective answer was rather simple, “GameX hurt us a lot.” (GameX is another video game convention coming to the Philadelphia area at the end of October). According to the sources, who wish to remain anonymous, GameX decided to go head-to-head against VGXPO, and the backers weren’t going to pull any punches. From what I was told GameX’s coordinators cornered the local NBC channel for coverage, hired personal with the same first name’s as VGXPO’s PR people, and even pretended that VGXPO had simply changed its name.
The information is obviously one-sided, but it explains why VGXPO 2009 was so, well…bad. GameX simply outmaneuvered the convention in its fifth (possibly final) year.
In case you are wondering, yes, I will be covering GameX. Who knew the convention business was so cutthroat?
I spent a good amount of time teaching people how to lose at Virtual On, to me.
October 12th, 2009 at 9:39 PM
I don’t typically comment on this type of misreporting, but the obvious slander issue seems like good territory to cover considering that it’s seriously hard to understand how GameX is responsible for VGXPO’s disorganization, missing print programs, lack of signage, misinformed and/or abusive volunteers, delayed events and missing show content (promoted in advance, but not in sight at event).
Myself and numerous industry colleagues participated in a mass exodus of staff, volunteers, contractors, partners, exhibitors, advisors and sponsors from VGXPO last year (I was a volunteer advisor and produced their one and only party, a well-attended and fun affair promoted by various partners), in light of a flurry of deeply inappropriate behavior on the part of key VGXPO leadership.
When NBC in Philadelphia asked me and others to help them build another game convention in the area, it seemed like a no-brainer. The result has been amazing…it’s historic for a new game consumer show to have three major publishers, in this case, Electronic Arts, SEGA and Ubisoft. The positive buzz for GameX has been enormous. And it looks like our debut industry conference is going to be a complete sell-out.
Most importantly, this effort has been a seriously behemoth task undertaken by a crew of respected professionals eager to prove that the Northeast can and will support a well-produced, well-promoted game convention. While VGXPO operatives spent months publicly spewing buckets of venomous bile into dark empty holes, our team consistently took the high road and NEVER participated in anything but positive words and praise for VGXPO’s legacy.
Bottom line, VGXPO’s reputation as a disorganized flop has been consistent year to year, and that reputation did its own damage, and appears to have repeated itself. From the scads of negative reviews over the last few days, VGXPO was a miserable failure. I feel terrible for any exhibitor, speaker or participant who suffered as a result…I actually had high hopes that VGXPO, as a 5-year-old show, could better itself and show proof of its long-range viability.
In my idealistic world, there is plenty of room in the marketplace for successful, well-run consumer shows to thrive. The Northeast game consumers in particular are starved for this kind of game product exposure and entertainment.
Kind regards,
Fiona Cherbak
VP, Business Development
GameX, the Games & Media Expo
October 19th, 2009 at 1:19 PM
@Fiona
I appreciate you setting the record straight, and further detailing the consistent problems that VGXPO has faced in its life. I completely agree, it has always been an unorganized mess.
I can’t wait to check out GameX’s debut, it certainly seems like it is shaping up to be one of the premiere east coast gaming destinations. Keep up the good work.
Just to clear the air, I don’t feel that I was “misreporting” in any way. I reported what a rep told me, simple as that. Heck, I even doubted the authenticity of the complaints, calling it “obviously one-sided.” Although, I could have pinged GameX for a rebuttal.