E for All set to be embarassed by PAX?

After last year's rather dismal showing at IDG's inaugural E for All, organizer IDG swore that the show would go on and return in 2008. Joystiq has a very nice illustration of why that decision isn't looking wise.

Exactly two publishers are currently committed to attending E for All in LA in October, Electronic Arts and Microsoft. 32 exhibitors are listed on the E for All site, but the other 30 are all accessory and paraphenalia makers, game retailers, videogame schools and other non-profits (plus, of course, the inevitable Fatal1ty). If E for All is, as advertised, "the place where games and gamers" meet, it's looking like a pretty one-sided meeting. It's difficult to imagine attendees would be satisfied paying $35 for one day, $60 for two days, or $75 for four days with "Gears of War 2," "Dead Space," "Mirror's Edge," and possibly some early builds of games coming out in 2009.

But the really bad news for E for All is that almost every major publisher is attending Penny Arcade Expo this weekend. From Atari and Gamecock through Activision Blizzard and Nintendo, they're pretty much all there. The Penny Arcade folks are expecting 50,000 plus attendees in Seattle this weekend. (I'm going to be there too, for the first time, and am pretty damned excited).

Last year, E for All had 18,000 attendees who came to see three major publishers: Nintendo, Konami, and THQ. It's hard to see how things would be different this year. If they can't sign up more big exhibitors, IDG and the Entertainment Software Assn. (which gave E for All its endorsement after downsizing E3 last year) risk some major embarrassment in the wake of PAX.

For breakdown of which publishers were at E for All last year, which are there this year, and who's at PAX, check out Joystiq's handy chart.

Update: A rep for IDG sent me the following response:

At this point we'll just say that the show isn't over until Tiger hits his last hole in one, Microsoft has packed up its last Xbox, Target has sold its last Wii Fit, Fatali1ty has blown away his last opponent, and the World Cyber Games National champions are crowned. Further announcements are forthcoming and we are confident that E for All 2008 will be a great event for everyone in the gaming community.