In the first time since its inception, SEGA will not be attending the Electronic Entertainment Expo when the festivities kick off at the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 16.
In its announcement, an unnamed SEGA representative said the company will focus on moving its headquarters, while also being quick to point out that just because the company won’t have an official presence or booth, it “will be collaborating with our various business partners for this year’s E3 show.”
What that means exactly, we don’t know, but former SEGA of America President Thomas Kalinske told SEGA Nerds foregoing the event is a big mistake for the company, especially considering its recent financial troubles.
“I think it’s a further sign of weakness not to have a presence at E3,” he said. “Clearly a show like E3 is not as important today as it was when we founded the show after getting out of (the Consumer Electronic Show).
@SEGANerds Sega abandons E3? Another nail in the coffin, guess they forgot their US Mngt in 94 helped found E3. Wht nxt change Sonic 2 a dog
— Thomas Kalinske (@ThomasTkalinske) May 5, 2015
“We used to actually get orders or order commitments from retail buyers at E3, that doesn’t happen any more. But it is still important for retail buyers, and online retailers like Amazon to see all that is being marketed for a given time period/year, so they can judge where to place their support and plan promotions around,” Kalinske continued. “The show is even more important for media PR planning, for longer lead time (to allow) writers to plan their articles for the upcoming year.”
The significance didn’t end there for Kalinkse.
“The show is also important for all the financial analysts and industry pundits to form their opinion and write their reports on which companies are strong, which are weak, etc.,” he said. “Clearly, SEGA now appears even weaker by not being at the show.”
Kalinske has been publicly critical of SEGA’s direction the past few months, saying in February that a string of bad choices landed the company in its current predicament, but it didn’t have to be that way.
“It was not inevitable,” Kalinske said. “It could have been avoided if they had made the right decisions going back literally 20 years ago. But they seem to have made the wrong decisions for 20 years.”
Aside from Total War: WARHAMMER, SEGA has not announced any major new titles for 2015 or 2016, but did say it will announce titles from Relic Entertainment, Sports Interactive and Creative Assembly after its relocation.
So what say you, SEGA Nerds? Do you agree with what Kalinske said (P.S. I totally said the same thing too last week) about SEGA not attending E3? Let us know in the comments below!
