Next year’s GDC, DICE and E3 may be for press attendees only

People have this need to belong; no one wants to feel left out. How would you feel if you weren’t allowed to attend a big gaming event because you’re not a member of the press? Unfortunately, that may just be the case next year with the GDC, DICE and E3. More “exclusive” news after the jump.

If you’ve got plans to attend either the Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain event (DICE),  E3 or the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) next year, you may have to rethink your plans depending on how things go. The reason? All of the aforementioned big gaming events may be by press invite only.

The leaders behind the three events have their own reasons for moving toward such a system. For GDC director Jamil Moledina, it’s primarily a matter of cost and a matter of  “making sure the Game Developers Conference fits its core goals” – which, for Moledina, is learning.

The priority of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (which is responsible for putting up DICE) is the comfort of the academy members while the media stay back and watch, according to academy president Joseph Olin. Olin was particularly concerned about how some writers dogged developers and made the latter feel uncomfortable.

In the case of the ESA‘s E3, it’s supersaturation – Rich Taylor, senior vice president for communications and research at the ESA, said that publishers and developers alike felt that they were getting lost in the “swirl of attendance.” For Taylor, “the whole point isn’t to limit access but to get the information out.”

It’s most unfortunate for the non-press people out there, but in any effort at streamlining events, something has really got to give.