In July of 2006, the Entertainment Software Association announced that E3 would be massively downsized and restructured for its 2007 summit. The “E3 Media and Business Summit” would be an invite-only event, restricted to industry professionals.

Since then, E3 hasn’t been quite the same, and it may be losing its crown to a number of other gaming summits and fairs, most notably, Gamescom, organized annually in Cologne, Germany. First held in August of 2009, Gamescom attracted a quarter million people in 2010. Let that sink in for a while, then read on!