Letter: EGN responds to ECTS boss' allegations
Following comments from ECTS event director Andy Lane on this site last week, the organisers of rival EGN trade show have responded to allegations they describe as 'extremely misleading'.
Dear Rob,
In your article with CMP's Andy Lane we noted that he chose to share some views with you that are (or rather were) protected under a mutual non-disclosure agreement. His comments are extremely misleading.
The 'olive branch' discussion he refers to was in fact part of a proposal CMP put forward to move ECTS to ExceL, where it would run alongside Game Stars Live. The climate for such a compromise was subsequently soured by CMP publicly accusing ELSPA of cynicism and piracy. Nevertheless, CMP did receive a counterproposal from ELSPA and London EventCo, the details of which we will not disclose. Discussions continued from November into February this year.
We had agreed to keep all these discussions confidential at CMP's request, but following the unauthorised disclosures in Andy Lane's article, we feel we now have no option but to disclose the full facts of those conversations in actual context. CMP's continuing criticism of ExceL as unsuitable for the Games Industry can now be properly exposed as utterly hypocritical, given its earlier eagerness to relocate ECTS to ExCeL.
For the sake of avoiding CMP further embarrassment we will draw a line under this particular matter.
Dealing with the other wildly inaccurate accusations in Andy Lane's article:
Fact: EGN is FREE to any pre-registered retailer or qualified buyer. This has not changed from day one.
Fact: Fully fitted exhibition space in EGN for Game Stars Live exhibitors costs £100 per square metre. Fully fitted exhibition space for solus EGN exhibitors costs £350 per square metre. Developers within the TIGA Developers Exchange at EGN pay less than £100 per square metre. Compare these prices with ECTS at over £400 per square metre.
Fact: Maximum stand size in EGN is capped at 120 square metres, with no free-build to further ensure a level playing field for the smaller companies.
Now ask, which event is more affordable and more attuned to the needs of smaller companies? Which event enjoys the support of TIGA and ELSPA and the major publishers?
Yours sincerely,
Tamsin Aspinall
Commercial Director - ELSPA
Rob Mackenzie
Managing Director - London EventCo