The DeanBeat: Don’t panic. E3 will be full of fun, not FUD

Some wags will tell you that the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the big game trade show in Los Angeles in mid-June, is on its way down. They will make you worry about big companies pulling out of the show, mobile companies failing to show up, and fans making it too crowded for the 50,000 or so professionals who will descend on the Los Angeles Convention Center in a couple of weeks. They’ll say that E3 is dead.

Don’t believe them. I’ve been going to E3 shows for a couple of decades, and a lot fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) always precede each show. I have spread some of that FUD myself, as I’ve been worried that big companies pulling out would cave in the show and make it collapse. Electronic Arts is the biggest sinner here, holding a fan event on June 10 but skipping out on a booth on the show floor. And, horror of horrors, Rockstar Games pushed back the release of Red Dead Redemption from this fall to 2018.