Interview with Tom Champion - taken from SweetFFA.com
I am writing every so often for www.sweetffa.com. This was my interview with Tom Champion.
We are lucky enough today to have Tom Champion from the team behind this years Eurogamer Expo join us. Tom has somehow found 5 minutes to answer a few questions for us before getting back into setting up this years awesome show.
Tom, thanks for joining us here at SweetFFA as I expect you are busy at the moment with setting up the Eurogamer Expo. Just as a little bit of history how long have you been working over at EuroGamer? And how did you get involved?
No problem, thanks for having me! Yep, it’s super busy at the moment, we’re just six weeks away from the start of the event and there’s still a tonne to do!
I started at Eurogamer in May 2009 and while my main role is working on the expo, I’m also Eurogamer’s community manager.
The story of how I joined EG is long and a bit boring. To keep it brief; I found myself at a loose end in Brighton in 2009, the EG guys happened to be looking for someone to help with the expo and they offered me the gig.
The Expo started in 2008 so it is still a fairly new venture but you seem to have grown at such a rate, what do you think led to such a quick growth?
Yep, the growth has been rapid and really encouraging. The reason behind it, without being too arrogant, is that each year we’ve put on a really good show and each year we've managed to improve it from the previous year.
Publishers are confident that we’re able to put on a great show and that encourages them to support us and show their games every year. In the same way, gamers who come to the expo have a great time and always want to come back for more.
Do you think American shows like E3 help with the demand for similar events in the UK?
I think it helps as the profile of events like E3 gives gamers in the UK an idea about what to expect from the expo if they haven’t been before. However, we've never particularly liked comparisons to E3 as our event is a consumer show for gamers; E3 is a trade show aimed primarily at the press and other industry folk.
We like to compare ourselves a bit more to something like PAX in the US which is a large consumer event a bit like ours.
How do you go start planning such an event? And do you find that having organised the expo for a few years now it gets easier each time?
Good question! We start planning very early, normally as soon as the previous year’s expo has finished. There are two of us at Eurogamer who work on the expo full time but we also have a great events company who help us by talking to various suppliers who build our stands, provide the electricity etc. All the boring stuff! There’s so much stuff to think about I’m always worried we might forget something vital. We have some brilliant partners who help us with other parts of the show; Replay organising our retro area, David Hayward with the indie arcade etc.
I’m not sure it ever gets much easier! We put a lot of pressure on ourselves by upping the size of the show each year and adding more features. In 2008 we had a few thousand visitors over two days. This year we’re at Earls Court with 30,000 visitors over four days with something like 750 consoles and PCs. It’s a huge difference!
What’s the hardest part of the set up, day one of planning or the day before it all goes live with gamers?
The period we’re in now is the toughest time for me. We’re six weeks away from the start of the show and all our deadlines are arriving at once! We’ll get everything done that we need to do, it’s just pretty stressful. Actually, I really enjoy the show when it’s on. It’s exciting to see everything come together and it’s a great feeling when the first few people come through the doors.
Does being a fan/gamer as well as an organiser give you a positive attitude to the inevitable problems or do you find it sours what you used to love?
Hmm, interesting question. I don’t think anything could put me off games but during the show I kind of stop seeing them as games and just view them as potential problems. I think every year I end up playing about one game because I'm more interested in making sure that our attendees are having a great time.
What stand are we most like to see you at this year?
You’ll see me all over the place! I’ll be the guy roaming around the venue with a radio and a stressed look on my face. There are some games I’m really looking forward to seeing though; Battlefield, Arkham City, The Old Republic and Rage in particular.
How much time off do you give yourself at the end of all this before you have to say, here we go again?
I had half a day off after the expo in 2009. Last year I took a week off after and this year I'm going to Greece almost straight after we wrap up. Every year I seem to take a little bit more time off. Almost like each year the show is a little bit more sapping. :D
With games like Batman Arkham City and Battlefield 3 on offer which games might surprise us this year? (and why)
Well there are some massive games on show this year as well as a few lesser known titles. I'm a bit of a SEGA fanboy so their line up is interesting to me particularly as it features new IP (Intellectual Property) like Binary Domain, Renegade Ops and Anarchy Reigns. I'm super excited about the new Sonic game too. I'm also looking forward to checking out Dark Souls as it’s the sequel to Demon’s Souls and Saints Row 3. I was a huge fan the first two games, they were amazing fun.
Fifa or Pro Evo?
Ah! Well for ages I was all about PES (or ISS as it used to be called) but when this console generation kicked off the Fifa guys really picked up their game. I did, however, play a lot of PES 2011 and from what I’ve seen of PES 2012, it’s going to be a big challenge to Fifa this year.
And finally if you can, what are you 5 top games and why?
Well, I've been playing games for 25 years now so this is a pretty tricky question! I used to love (and still do) god games like Settlers and Theme Park so both of those would need to be in there. Football Manager as well; I've spent hours of my life on that game and it keeps getting better.
Space trading games appear to be a dead genre (apart from EVE) but they were absolutely brilliant. I spent a lot of time exploring in Frontier: Elite II and so that’ll be in my top five, despite the bugs.
Finally I’ll go for something a bit more recent; Saints Row 2. It was raw fun in a way that GTA IV wasn’t.
Thanks very much for your time.
No problem, thanks for the questions!
You can find out more from the Eurogamer Expo on Twitter @Eurogamer_Expo or from their own site http://www.eurogamer.net/expo/
We are lucky enough today to have Tom Champion from the team behind this years Eurogamer Expo join us. Tom has somehow found 5 minutes to answer a few questions for us before getting back into setting up this years awesome show.
Tom, thanks for joining us here at SweetFFA as I expect you are busy at the moment with setting up the Eurogamer Expo. Just as a little bit of history how long have you been working over at EuroGamer? And how did you get involved?
No problem, thanks for having me! Yep, it’s super busy at the moment, we’re just six weeks away from the start of the event and there’s still a tonne to do!
I started at Eurogamer in May 2009 and while my main role is working on the expo, I’m also Eurogamer’s community manager.
The story of how I joined EG is long and a bit boring. To keep it brief; I found myself at a loose end in Brighton in 2009, the EG guys happened to be looking for someone to help with the expo and they offered me the gig.
The Expo started in 2008 so it is still a fairly new venture but you seem to have grown at such a rate, what do you think led to such a quick growth?
Yep, the growth has been rapid and really encouraging. The reason behind it, without being too arrogant, is that each year we’ve put on a really good show and each year we've managed to improve it from the previous year.
Publishers are confident that we’re able to put on a great show and that encourages them to support us and show their games every year. In the same way, gamers who come to the expo have a great time and always want to come back for more.
Do you think American shows like E3 help with the demand for similar events in the UK?
I think it helps as the profile of events like E3 gives gamers in the UK an idea about what to expect from the expo if they haven’t been before. However, we've never particularly liked comparisons to E3 as our event is a consumer show for gamers; E3 is a trade show aimed primarily at the press and other industry folk.
We like to compare ourselves a bit more to something like PAX in the US which is a large consumer event a bit like ours.
How do you go start planning such an event? And do you find that having organised the expo for a few years now it gets easier each time?
Good question! We start planning very early, normally as soon as the previous year’s expo has finished. There are two of us at Eurogamer who work on the expo full time but we also have a great events company who help us by talking to various suppliers who build our stands, provide the electricity etc. All the boring stuff! There’s so much stuff to think about I’m always worried we might forget something vital. We have some brilliant partners who help us with other parts of the show; Replay organising our retro area, David Hayward with the indie arcade etc.
I’m not sure it ever gets much easier! We put a lot of pressure on ourselves by upping the size of the show each year and adding more features. In 2008 we had a few thousand visitors over two days. This year we’re at Earls Court with 30,000 visitors over four days with something like 750 consoles and PCs. It’s a huge difference!
What’s the hardest part of the set up, day one of planning or the day before it all goes live with gamers?
The period we’re in now is the toughest time for me. We’re six weeks away from the start of the show and all our deadlines are arriving at once! We’ll get everything done that we need to do, it’s just pretty stressful. Actually, I really enjoy the show when it’s on. It’s exciting to see everything come together and it’s a great feeling when the first few people come through the doors.
Does being a fan/gamer as well as an organiser give you a positive attitude to the inevitable problems or do you find it sours what you used to love?
Hmm, interesting question. I don’t think anything could put me off games but during the show I kind of stop seeing them as games and just view them as potential problems. I think every year I end up playing about one game because I'm more interested in making sure that our attendees are having a great time.
What stand are we most like to see you at this year?
You’ll see me all over the place! I’ll be the guy roaming around the venue with a radio and a stressed look on my face. There are some games I’m really looking forward to seeing though; Battlefield, Arkham City, The Old Republic and Rage in particular.
How much time off do you give yourself at the end of all this before you have to say, here we go again?
I had half a day off after the expo in 2009. Last year I took a week off after and this year I'm going to Greece almost straight after we wrap up. Every year I seem to take a little bit more time off. Almost like each year the show is a little bit more sapping. :D
With games like Batman Arkham City and Battlefield 3 on offer which games might surprise us this year? (and why)
Well there are some massive games on show this year as well as a few lesser known titles. I'm a bit of a SEGA fanboy so their line up is interesting to me particularly as it features new IP (Intellectual Property) like Binary Domain, Renegade Ops and Anarchy Reigns. I'm super excited about the new Sonic game too. I'm also looking forward to checking out Dark Souls as it’s the sequel to Demon’s Souls and Saints Row 3. I was a huge fan the first two games, they were amazing fun.
Fifa or Pro Evo?
Ah! Well for ages I was all about PES (or ISS as it used to be called) but when this console generation kicked off the Fifa guys really picked up their game. I did, however, play a lot of PES 2011 and from what I’ve seen of PES 2012, it’s going to be a big challenge to Fifa this year.
And finally if you can, what are you 5 top games and why?
Well, I've been playing games for 25 years now so this is a pretty tricky question! I used to love (and still do) god games like Settlers and Theme Park so both of those would need to be in there. Football Manager as well; I've spent hours of my life on that game and it keeps getting better.
Space trading games appear to be a dead genre (apart from EVE) but they were absolutely brilliant. I spent a lot of time exploring in Frontier: Elite II and so that’ll be in my top five, despite the bugs.
Finally I’ll go for something a bit more recent; Saints Row 2. It was raw fun in a way that GTA IV wasn’t.
Thanks very much for your time.
No problem, thanks for the questions!
You can find out more from the Eurogamer Expo on Twitter @Eurogamer_Expo or from their own site http://www.eurogamer.net/expo/
posted by TomTom at
9:19:00 AM
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