The recent (September 3-6) Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) 2021 convention brought thousands of gamers to downtown Seattle, Washington. But it wasn’t like any other year for the convention either. It’s the first live event for the PAX team in the United States since the late winter PAX East 2020 in Boston last year. How did it end up working out while in the midst of pandemic era restrictions?
The Good Vibes Gaming (GVG) team gave their live impressions about what they observed when checking out the PAX West 2021 expo floors, focusing on the dedicated media walkthrough time when attending this year. As an asterisk of a sort, the media time usually only permits media and content creators to have an early look, so the turnout is limited as a rule and doesn’t reflect the peak numbers of attendees.
In this 17 minute-long video, a few of their observations included that being there this year was a weird feeling, much different from previous years, with hardly anyone there, much more room between booths and tables, and more like a tradeshow and less like a convention.
On the upside, from their perspective, indie games got a much bigger spotlight than the bigger name developers and publishers, many of which were not in attendance. The lack of foot traffic was a plus in not having to make an effort to get from one place to another, while at the same time, lacking “people energy” meant less liveliness. The fourth floor expo floor walkthrough, which is considered the main exhibit floor, was a 10-15 minute expo floor walk-and-talk, featuring a lot of indie games. Interestingly, they observed the mix of booths was about 60% merch and about 40% games, maybe as low as 30%.
Take a look at this insightful Good Vibes Gaming team’s video from the PAX West 2021 expo floors!
For another fascinating view of the PAX West 2021 experience, which shows a livelier version of the show, you many want to check out Yoshiller’s vlog-style video. This 46 minute-long video walks the viewer through his full three-day experience in Seattle, including a Zelda Universe Panel, competitive gaming tournaments, and more.
Whether you are an event coordinator, press, or general attendee, if you have an event video to share with us, please let us know and we’ll be happy to feature it!
