E3 :mobile games a no show !

Notice anything missing from the E3 games show this year? Okay, maybe not entirely missing ,although an easy mistake given the fact that all there was present was a miniscule mobile games sector to highlight what has become, the biggest growth area in games.

Si que pasa hombre? Santa Monica sin juegas?

There may be a few explanations for this strange case of the missing mobile.
Firstly , last year wasn't exactly a great showcase. With only Namco and Gameloft attempting to compete in the same halls and at the same level as the big boys. Everyone else was banished to the low budget basement hall ( a brisk walk away along the long hot corridors). So no wonder mobile companies deserted E3 this year as the organisers did not provide value for money last year. €200k spent on a good marketing effort generates far better yields from carriers that E3 second rate displays.

Secondly , based on the experience of last year the mobile games industry realised it doesn't have the same need to make such a public appearance as console firms do.
After all, a demo can be done anywhere on a small phone.
Then perhaps mobile games don't suit big tradeshows. Separate PR launches may work best with careful attention to invitation lists and venues.
Or maybe the mainstream console industry still thinks mobile games are not worthy - too limited and too basic to be worth any attention.
If this is the case and the big boys do not spend marketing dollars promoting their mobile cousins they are missing a key segment of the market. The novice gamer. It is much easier to get a newbie to play and try a mobile game on their phone for a small cost rather than go to the effort and cost of acquiring a console and expensive game. If they dip their toes into a new mobile title and like it. They may well progress to the console version with the promise of better things.
The world is full of 'would be' gamers waiting to be inducted into the pleasures of gaming.

Separate events are the way to go as mobile companies will never have the cash to compete for eyeballs at such big budget dominated events. Mobile is a separate space, a slightly different demographic and a different experience so let's promote it differently also.