European Computer Trade Show
The European Computer Trade Show, shortly ECTS, was an annual video game trade show in London. It has long been the largest and most influential such trade fair in Europe and the world stood just its counterpart in Los Angeles, the Electronic Entertainment Expo ( E ³ ).
History
The CMP Information from media companies in the years 1989-2004 focused exhibition aimed exclusively at professional audience: developers, publishers, distributors and dealers, but also hardware manufacturers and especially the trade press. The general public was excluded, however, by the year 2002 from the fair. Was chaired the event of Miller Freeman, later took over Andy Lane. The Public Relations adopted by the Agency Bastion.
The ECTS was first held in 1989 at the Business Design Centre in Islington, North London. From here on, the fair has increased steadily in influence and scope, the number of participants rose steadily. Many large development studios and publishers presented their latest tracks and news.
From 1992 to 1996 inclusive, organized CMP two ECTS per year: a Spring Fair in April and a Fall Fair in September. Eventually, however, it was decided to hold only one fair in the autumn, as many games are released on the highly competitive holiday shopping season, and developers and publishers therefore had only a limited interest in their titles in the spring, just before the E ³ in May to present.
In 1995, the ECTS moved from the Business Design Centre in the Grand Hall at Olympia exhibition centers. Once the number of participants continued to rise, one exhibition area extended in 1997 on the adjacent National Hall. According to organizers, CMP the number of participants in 1997 increased compared to the previous year by 24 percent to 20,161.
Towards the end of the 90s began large publishers like Activision, Eidos Interactive and Electronic Arts to hold their own events where they had the undivided attention of their trading partners. Many publishers began to consider whether spending seven figures were useful for an attention-grabbing booth just a few months after the E ³. Since the 1999/2000, the ECTS struggled visibly with declining numbers of participants, which also eased their meaning.
At the ECTS 2000 the first time a " Developers Area" ( the developers section ) was offered, which offered a meeting place for the European developer community. Here also smaller development studios were able to present and exchange with each other, without having to pay the high fees for a private booth.
After ECTS 2000 CMP tried to developments in recent years to respond and moved the show in the modern conference center ExCeL Exhibition Centre at the Millennium Dome. First time in 2001 was at the same time the Game Developers Conference Europe ( GDCE ) held a conference of the European game developer and subsidiary of U.S. Game Developers Conference. Thus, both publishers and trade press, as well as the top developers were united in one place, of which the ECTS could benefit in the following years. But the new location ExCel presented during the ECTS 2001 for various reasons to be unsuitable for the event out and was heavily criticized by many participants. In addition, since 9 of the 10 largest publishers were not represented at the fair, the organizers harsh criticism saw exposed. The number of participants decreased by almost 50 percent. After Mass, many voices among publishers and developers were loud, demanding a drastic reorganization.
Already in the following year, the ECTS returned to west London. As a venue, Earls Court Exhibition Centre was chosen, London's largest exhibition center. Probably the biggest news on the ECTS 2002 was the integration of the PlayStation Experience, a game console manufactured by Sony of events on which many of the largest developers presented their latest title for Sony's PlayStation. This area was mainly aimed at players, whereby part of the ECTS was first opened and for consumers.
Also in 2002, opened for the first time the Games Convention in Leipzig its doors and stood thus a direct competitor dar.
At the ECTS 2003, this time under the new London Games Week took place, some of the big companies were represented again. In part, however, these limited to relatively small exhibition stands, while the major presentations and press releases were held at his own events. Microsoft, for example, offered only a small booth for meetings and talks at ECTS 2003, the latest Xbox games are presented on the three weeks it held press event X03.
At the same time as last year was the Sony PlayStation Experience. Also console manufacturer Nintendo was represented by three years of abstinence. However, the previously exaggerated hype surrounding Nintendo's return was rather disappointing for many visitors, as the company was not present in the exhibition hall, but only a private tour bus outside the exhibition halls aufstellte. Vivendi Universal Games UK presented together with Valve for the first time the first-person shooter Half-Life 2 in Europe.
In October 2003, the ECTS and organizer CMP had suffered a severe blow when the English publisher association ELSPA (Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association ) announced to hold its own computer and video game event in London - simultaneously with the ECTS. The European Games Network ( EGN ) baptized Fair to be held in combination with the event Game Stars Live. It came to a dispute between the two events, which was held on the public media. In November 2003, announced Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, that the city and the Tourism Board would support the EGN and Game Star Live. In March 2004, the association of independent game developers, TIGA ( The Independent Games Developers Association) also announced, as a counterpart to GDCE own developer conference called to organize European Developers Forum, which would take place at the same location as EGN and GSL.
From 1 to 3 September 2004, the ECTS opened its doors once more at Earls Court Exhibition Centre for the professional audience. Almost simultaneously to the competition were held events EGN, Game Stars Live and EDF at the ExCel Conference Centre as part of the London Games Festival. While many developers and retailers were still present at the ECTS, many of the publishers and the press for the EGN decided. Also the British final of the e-sports tournament World Cyber Games was held on the edge of ECTS 2004.
In April 2005, CMP announced to withdraw from the UK. This also meant the end of the ECTS and directed to consumers entertainment fair SCoRE. The developer conference GDCE hand, was also held in August 2005, this time in collaboration with the TIGA. This leaves only two trade fairs for the computer and video game area in the United Kingdom: the European Games Network and the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival ( EIEF ), which is part of the Edinburgh International Festival.