PAX West in Seattle was cut dramatically this year due to ongoing COVID-19 epidemic, but indie developers who came to exhibit their games at the event still considered it a success.
PAX West’s main expo hall was not as impressive as its normal spectacle with giant screens and huge booths. Although the show retained its PAX brand, it felt very different.
Fred Wood was demonstrating his upcoming game LOVE 3 on the stand at this weekend’s show to give us a glimpse of the developer’s view.
Wood stated that it was difficult to predict what PAX would look like after one year and half of a pandemic. Therefore, he said they were “prudently low”. Wood said, “I was still surprised by the number of exhibitors this year.”
I was really nervous to travel and be around so many people at #PAXWest, but now that it’s over (for me) I’m going to miss the energy of the crowd.
Although it was quite small, I found this to be one of my favourite PAXs.
— Fred Wood @ PAX West (Booth #1613) (@thatsmytrunks) September 6, 2021
Wood was last at PAX East, in Boston in February 2020. This convention took place just after COVID-19 shut down most of the rest of the world. Wood, after such a lengthy break, was eager to travel from San Antonio, Texas to Seattle to attend PAX West. He knew that it would be different than usual.
The expo floor at PAX West was very sparse this year due to a lack of big game developers such as Ubisoft, Sony and Microsoft. Even the indie presence at PAX West was very low. None of the typical smaller game developers from overseas made the trip, and PAX West staple the Indie MEGABOOTH is still shut down, so the usual large collection of indie games that they bring were missing as well.
However, this was a good thing for Wood and other indie developers who made the trip.
Wood stated that PAX West had fewer exhibitors this year, which means the attendees were hungry for gaming and they are able to see all of it. It also allowed us to secure a prime location right beside the skybridge, one of the main entrances and the skybridge.
After the show, Wood plans to head back home and quarantine for a few weeks while he works on his next game and prepares for the launch of LOVE 3 later this year. Wood considers the show to be a success and tweeted that he considered it one of his favorite PAX shows.
Publiated at Tue 07/09/2021, 14:06:05 +0000
