Editing E3 (section)

===2007–2008: ''Media and Business Summit''===
Following the 2006 convention, the IDSA—now ESA—found that many exhibitors were worried about the high costs of presenting at the event, spending between {{nowrap|$5–$10 million}} for their booths.<ref name="engadget history"/> They had also found that a larger proportion of attendees were bloggers and attendees who were not perceived to be industry professionals by vendors, managing to secure access to the conference. These additional attendees diluted the vendors' ability to reach out to their target audience, retailers and journalists.<ref name="arstech 2006">{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2006/07/7382/ |first=Ken |last=Fisher |date=July 30, 2006 |title=E3 game trade show not canceled, but will be downsized |access-date=June 2, 2007 |archive-date=July 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725104657/http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2006/07/7382/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Both of these reasons had previously caused the [[COMDEX]] trade show to shut down.<ref name="arstech 2006"/> Several large vendors told the ESA that they were going to pull out of the next E3, which would have had a domino effect on other vendors.<ref name="engadget history"/>

To avoid this, the ESA announced in July 2006 that E3 would be downsized and restructured due to the overwhelming demand from the exhibitors, and would limit attendees to those from the media and retail sectors.<ref name="Gamespot">{{cite web |date=July 31, 2006 |title=ESA confirms much smaller E3 in '07 |url=https://www.gamespot.com/articles/esa-confirms-much-smaller-e3-in-07/1100-6154935/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090413205056/http://www.gamespot.com/pages/news/story.php?sid=6154935 |archive-date=April 13, 2009 |access-date=June 2, 2007 |website=Gamespot}}</ref> For 2007 and 2008, E3 was renamed to the E3 Media and Business Summit, and moved into the July timeframe, about two months later in the year than previous shows. The 2007 show was held at the Barker Hangar at the [[Santa Monica Airport]] and other nearby hotels in [[Santa Monica, California]] with attendance limited to about 10,000, and was the last time the show was not physically held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.<ref name="gamespot e3"/> The 2008 event returned to the Los Angeles Convention Center, but also capped attendance at about 5,000.<ref name="gibiz 2007-2008">{{cite web |url=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-08-01-that-time-the-industry-almost-killed-e3 |title=That time the industry almost killed E3 |first=Brendan |last=Sinclar |date=August 1, 2016 |access-date=May 9, 2017 |work=[[GamesIndustry.biz]] |archive-date=June 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170622212351/http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-08-01-that-time-the-industry-almost-killed-e3 |url-status=live }}</ref>

ESA was harshly criticized for these smaller events.<ref name="engadget history"/><ref name="gibiz 2007-2008"/> Industry analyst Michael Pachter said that because consumers had been eliminated from attending the events, there was little external media coverage of these E3s, reducing the visibility and commercialization opportunities for publishers, and suggested that without a change, E3 would become extinct.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/e3-is-headed-for-extinction-pachter |title=E3 is headed for extinction – Pachter |first=Matt |last=Martin |date=July 21, 2008 |access-date=May 9, 2017 |work=GamesIndustry.biz |archive-date=November 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171112074045/http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/e3-is-headed-for-extinction-pachter |url-status=live }}</ref> Pachter also found that retailers were less interested in E3 due to the later calendar date.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=14701 |title=Pachter: E3 Was A 'Terrible Disappointment' |first=Brandon |last=Boyer |date=July 16, 2007 |access-date=May 9, 2017 |work=[[Gamasutra]] |archive-date=November 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171112132236/https://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=14701 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Activision]], which had been a member of the ESA since its start, opted to leave the ESA in 2008 and to no longer participate in the E3 event, with their CEO [[Robert Kotick]] stating the company was too big for the E3 and ESA at that point, riding on revenue from ''[[World of Warcraft]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://kotaku.com/why-we-love-to-hate-activision-and-might-be-wrong-5371156 |title=Why We Love To Hate Activision — And Might Be Wrong |first=Leigh |last=Alexander |date=August 30, 2009 |access-date=January 19, 2020 |work=[[Kotaku]] |archive-date=October 14, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014055345/https://kotaku.com/why-we-love-to-hate-activision-and-might-be-wrong-5371156 |url-status=live }}</ref>