IRS documents uncovered by Kotaku has revealed the move from the Los Angeles Convention Center to Santa Monica for E3 2007 ran up a bill of $5 million for the ESA. The increase in membership fees due to this cost has caused multiple companies to not renew their dues, including LucasArts and Activision, the latter the largest third party in the industry.
Rich Taylor, ESA Senior Vice President of Communications, doesn’t believe the Santa Monica move was a mistake:
“I don’t think it’s a mistake,” he said. “There was a model in Santa Monica that we tried and after the event we polled participants across the board about what they thought of it and then we tried to figure out what we could do to make it better and returning to the Los Angeles Convention Center was the right decision.”
ESA Spent $5 Million To Move E3 For a Year - [Kotaku]
Tags: e3, esa, la convention center, santa monica
