[tinco]

To my knowledge PAX starter out because E3 lost its way. It's cool to see that the effectively solved the problem and made PAX what E3 was supposed to be, at least for gamers and game journalists.

Perhaps a note for those who don't know, penny arcade here stands for the web comic penny arcade. In the comic the main characters play and criticise video games as they come out, as well as going through general life stuff. For the past decade its extreme popularity has made it one of the industries biggest media.

[riffraff]

as an ignorant of such matters, what does "E3 lost its way" mean?

[michaelt]

In 2006 E3 was open to press and the public, with 60,000 attendees. In 2007 it was invited-press-only and had 10,000 attendees. In 2008, only 5,000 attendees. [1]

Meanwhile, PAX had 9000 attendees in 2005, and 58,500 by 2008 [2]. The most recent attendance figures I can find are 2011, with 70,000 attendees reported.

E3 later changed back to being open to the public; in 2014, their attendance was 48,900. So far from completely dead as a show.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_E3&old... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Penny_Arcade_Expo...