Pre-PAX Frenzy
Are you gearing up for PAX? It's in a mere three days (or fewer, if you're going to PAX Dev, like some of us). Are you excited? Are you crazy excited? I sure hope so! Let's talk about our favorite gaming convention.
After this year's PAX Prime ticket frenzy, the west coast gaming convention is in the forefront of many people’s minds. If you were anything like me, you were in the shower when tickets went on sale, and by the time you emerged, most of them were gone. This is an indicator of PAX’s massive success and desirability. It has features that other similar conventions don’t have, namely a huge emphasis on gaming culture, eschewing a focus on more traditional convention genres, such as anime and science fiction, although those aspects do exist in a gaming setting.
PAX Prime’s huge growth in the last few years have led to some concern that the Washington State Convention Center will no longer be large enough to host Prime in the future. Prime has already taken over huge swaths of the convention center space as well as nearby hotels, even adding an additional day to the event, and still, there is more demand for tickets than there is supply. There are simply too many people to accommodate all of them. PAX is quickly going the way of San Diego Comic Con—that is, the average person has no realistic expectation of being able to attend in comfort. The extremely crowded nature of Prime is also becoming a deterrent, as it’s really no fun to take fifteen stressful minutes to walk across the main showcase hall, or to stand in line for two hours for a mere five minutes of gameplay. The expansion of PAX into two other locations in recent years (soon to be three) has not helped congestion whatsoever.
However, the value of PAX as a truly, through-and-through, gaming convention can not be overstated. With a huge focus on PC and console gaming, as well as analog gaming, the con provides a location for fans of all types to explore their fandom in an arena with others. To be fair, the congestion of Prime can’t be easily controlled by those who run the con, but it still makes the experience overwhelming at times.
If you’ve been following this blog, you know that Tiger Sheep has attended PAX Dev the previous two years, and plans on attending it again. PAX Dev is invaluable for gaming businesses, particularly small start-ups such as ourselves, because it not only provides a place to connect with many other gaming companies, but also provides a learning space, with panels dedicated to industry-specific topics. Dev is the hidden gem of PAX, without the insane frenzy. Industry conferences exist all over the U.S., but there aren’t any I know of that are quite this wrapped up in current gaming culture. The true value of PAX can be measured by Dev, by giving not only gamers a unique place to interact, but the people who make these games as well. Since both these conventions occur one after the other, the impact of Dev is that much bigger.
PAX will keep fluctuating in the coming years, and hopefully will not lose their roots. As long as it’s still overwhelmingly positive, we’ll still keep going.
