Breaking From Tradition, E3 To Offer 15,000 Paid Passes To The Public

The Electronic Entertainment Expo – AKA: E3 – has long been an event that the gaming community at large has had great interest in, although thanks to the fact that it’s catered only to press and analysts, the general public has never been able to get inside. At least easily. In 2017, that changes.

While we’re not sure of the ultimate reason for inviting the public into this once-exclusive event, it can’t hurt that PAX has become such an enormous success and does let regular ol’ Joes in. Not only that, but all PAX events tend to sell out seriously fast, so there’s clear demand from the public for this kind of thing.

The question must be begged, though: will E3 be able to sell all 15,000 of the tickets it has to the public? Can it compete against PAX? It’s hard to say, because while PAX lets people in for about $50 per day, E3’s entry fee is $150 – or $250 if you don’t snap a ticket up on February 13 (the same day they go on sale).

$150 is without question a lofty fee, and it automatically makes this kind of event exclusive, despite the fact that it became less exclusive with the move to sell public tickets. However, that $150 lasts for three days, and lets people check out basically anything relevant to E3, which in addition to the show floor includes panels and special programming directed by Geoff Keighley.

If you want to splurge on this year’s E3, you can sign up for notifications at the official website. As mentioned above, you can only save the $100 on the entry fee on February 13th, so you will want to set a reminder if you plan to go. A bump from $150 to $250 in a single day is pretty extreme.