Devolver Digital announced that their E3 event, “Indie Picnic,” will no longer be open to the public, according to the Devolver Digital official blog.
“We regretfully inform the public that we have been denied the necessary special use permits to enable us to host the fan-badge portion of the recently-announced Devolver Indie Picnic at E3 this year,” it said in the blog post. “Those with E3 industry badges and by-appointment press are still welcome to join us per our usual location, but we are sad to say that we will not be able to accommodate the fan-badges due to capacity restrictions.”
This comes to a shock to fans considering that this year’s E3 will be the first E3 open to the public. The tickets available for the public were considerably cheaper than anticipated too, ranging from $149 for the first 1,000 ticket buyers to $249 for the next 14,000 ticket buyers, according to VG24/7.
“Indie Picnic” is an event that displays up and coming indie games. Some of the games that will be displayed this year include Masquerada: Songs and Shadows, Nidhogg 2, Semblance, 2064: Read Only Memories, A Duel Hand Disaster: Trackher, and Aztez. The demos for these games will be split between areas, one called MEGAPODS (players can demo games on a first come, first serve basis) and MEGATRAILER (an appointment is required to play). The event will be held in Devolver Digital’s back lot, across from the e# convention center and is in partnership with Indie Megabooth. More information on the event can be found on Indie Megabooth’s official website.
Fans won’t be missing out on all the fun, though, as there is a livestream available for viewing the event. “Fans at home will still be able to participate via the Devolver Public Access livestream from the lot again with best pals at X-Split, which will be broadcasting throughout the show, bringing you an awesome showcase of independent games and some very special guests as indie creators from all over the world will be joining us,” it said in the blog post.
Devolver Digital is a known indie gaming and publishing company located in Austin, TX. Some of their most popular published games include Genital Jousting, Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, and Shadow Warrior 2. These games and more can be found on Devolver Digital’s official games page.
Devolver Digital has been known in the past to host an “anti-booth” event outside of E3, according to GameInformer. This year, they will be actively participating in E3 by having their own E3 press conference amongst all the other big press conferences.
“Our disappointment runs deep that we are not able to utilize the additional space we leased specifically to be able to host the fans who bought E3 wristbands this year,” it said in the blog post. “Opening up more space for the public to experience a unique and memorable celebration of games was something we very much wanted to do for fans who, like us, love video games… We are saddened that we will be unable to share that with them but look forward to working on future opportunities to do so.”
Although the public will not have access to the “Indie Picnic” event, industry and press attendees will still be allowed to participate. It’s a shame, considering that this is the first E3 open to the public and will give everyone an opportunity to play demos that may not be available outside the event yet. E3 will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 13 to June 15, and will feature press conferences from big names like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft along with other publishers.
Featured image via Devolver Digital website.
