They don't really have the bandwidth to do yet another PAX. Next year will be the first year of PAX South as well, so another one starting up so soon is extremely unlikely regardless of the time required on the part of the PA staff. Another thing is that there are already PAXes on each coast of North America, and have the majority of the population there. Factor in passport requirements for Americans to cross the border and it gets to be a relatively sticky situation. I wouldn't expect to see another one start up, at least not any time soon. We are likely at Peak PAX.
I am hoping that with PAX South and East now months away, it could lessen the pressure for Prime, allowing more West Coast people to come to PAX Prime while the East Coast and South have their own PAXes.
However as of this posting, PAX South still have 1-day tickets left. And no word on PAX East 2015 dates...
Canada makes no sense, as much as I'd like to see it happen. Unfortunately we're too close to the US geographically while lacking the population to support such an event. Further the two major population centres that we do have are located in areas that overlap geographically with PAX Prime and PAX East (GVRD and GTA respectively). While there's a lot of potential on the prairies (just need to look at Calgary and Edmonton expos), neither location has the convention centre or hotel infrastructure to support the mass influx that is a PAX.
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admanbunionize your workplaceSeattle, WARegistered Userregular
edited 2014 02
Twin Cities or Chicago seems a lot more likely for a PAX North. Big metropolitan area and avoids the extra trouble (for the organizers) of working internationally, while still serving non-coastal Canada.
I think you're hoping for something way too soon. If they do plan to add a PAX North, or any other PAX for that matter, I don't expect an announcement for quite a few years. The first PAX South has not even happened yet, and since it's the first it'll sort of be like a trial run. They'll be checking to make sure the convention center is a good match for the convention as well as all the other factors they have to consider. On top of that running four PAX events is going to be extremely hectic for them as it is. They'll likely want a few years to perfect their schedules and make sure they can balance four conventions before even thinking about adding a fifth.
On top of that even if they do add a new PAX I think it's kind of absurd to think it would be another one in America. It probably would not be in Canada either.
If they do a 5th show, I'd personally bet against it being in North America. The demand for a PAX UK seems pretty strong (and I'm still surprised they did AUS first).
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My guess would be Milwaukee, Cleveland, Toronto or even Detroit before Chicago. They like the tier2 cities based on the 3 locations so far. But yeah, if not UK, at least EU (Amsterdam anyone?) would be my next guess, US has to many right now.
If they did another show, then something would have to give. The whole company already has to set up and attend five conventions which not only have them going all over the USA, but to practically the other side of the planet. I don't think they even attend other, non-PAX conventions now (wasn't this year their last SDCC?), so eventually you reach a point where something's gotta give. I know Mike and Jerry have tried to dial their presence back a bit and make PAX less about Penny Arcade, but I imagine they still want to attend them all, you know?
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m0nk33Keeper of the TubesAustin, TXRegistered Userregular
If they did do a North, might I suggest Minneapolis, MN? It's a great city, with an international airport, an excellent public transportation system, a large convention center, and many more venues that can be used for concerts and satellite events. Just throwing that out there.
Speaking for Toronto, given that we're hosting the Panam/Para Panam games next year, I have a feeling the hotel and transportation infrastructure should hold up even to something as bustling as PAX.
The Metro Toronto Convention Center downtown hosts Fan Expo each year, which breaks 100,000 visitors across 4 days (more like 3 and a half), and is ~20% bigger than the PAX East location, according to Wikipedia.
The overlap with PAX East, however, is a fair point, and I'm not expecting a PAX North anytime soon.
But selfishly, it would be nice, and the area seems to be capable of supporting the kind of numbers a major event pulls in.
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BouwsTWanna come to a super soft birthday party?Registered Userregular
PAX East and Prime are so close to the Canadian border that it's just not going to happen. I'd love to see it, but I'm from Alberta so no matter where it goes it's not going to be anywhere near me.
I'm better off going to the States for a PAX so I can take advantage of Tobacco and Alcohol exemptions, and cheap beer prices. A Canadian PAX might ruin me.
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My guess would be Milwaukee, Cleveland, Toronto or even Detroit before Chicago. They like the tier2 cities based on the 3 locations so far. But yeah, if not UK, at least EU (Amsterdam anyone?) would be my next guess, US has to many right now.
As a resident of Milwaukee I can safely say it will never be here. We were unable to keep GenCon because of space issues and so they ditched us for Indianapolis. Our convention center is really small and is basically a waste of space. If PAX were to be here it'd have to be at a large place that doesn't normally have conventions.
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GoslingLooking Up Soccer In Mongolia Right Now, ProbablyWatertown, WIRegistered Userregular
My guess would be Milwaukee, Cleveland, Toronto or even Detroit before Chicago. They like the tier2 cities based on the 3 locations so far. But yeah, if not UK, at least EU (Amsterdam anyone?) would be my next guess, US has to many right now.
As a resident of Milwaukee I can safely say it will never be here. We were unable to keep GenCon because of space issues and so they ditched us for Indianapolis. Our convention center is really small and is basically a waste of space. If PAX were to be here it'd have to be at a large place that doesn't normally have conventions.
A use for Grand Avenue, finally? Take all those closed-up storefronts and convert them to panel rooms and exhibitor spaces?
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I think the bigger issue is when you put PAX schedule vs. all the other Cons - you'd start to have too many opportunities for multiple big things running over each other, which would mean people would go to one and not the other. I think Europe is likely next, as Europe currently only has Gamescom, right?
My guess would be Milwaukee, Cleveland, Toronto or even Detroit before Chicago. They like the tier2 cities based on the 3 locations so far. But yeah, if not UK, at least EU (Amsterdam anyone?) would be my next guess, US has to many right now.
PAX Detroit would be badass, Cobo Hall could probably work pretty well and there's plenty of hotels nearby.
As cool as a PAX North would be, my money would be on a EuroPax before a North- we've now got 3 in the North America region, with 2 being within spitting distance of the Canadian border.
Toronto proper versus Chicago Proper, True Enough, Metropolitan Area, its not even close. Toronto Metro = 5,583,064 Chicago Metro =9,522,434 Not knocking Toronto, its a great city, at least last time I was there (AGES AGO when it was around 1 million pop) So I guess I would up Toronto to a TIER1 based on numbers and cross it off the list and say if it was going to be Canada, maybe Windsor, or more likely Mississauga, but I am not sure either has a convention hall large enough to support PAX
Mississauga is basically Toronto (The borders push up against each other). There are a whole string of cities that are in spitting distance of each other. Windsor would be a ridiculous location (I know it's hard to judge just looking at population).
Not that a PAX Canadiana makes sense (wish that it did), but....
Toronto is the only place in Ontario that has a convention centre that could support an event the size of PAX. The Metro Toronto Convention Center is huge, and is directly attached to the sky dome, which can be made into a giant expo hall floor type space.
All that being said, I would guess that Montreal (due to the strong developer presence) would be the most likely location, if a PAX in Canada ever happened.
Montreal even more dubiously so- our largest con centre is the Palais de Congres, and well...it's not big enough. Add to that the language laws PAX would have to follow (everything billingual, etc.) and it'd be really, really unfeasible.
Toronto is the only place in Ontario that has a convention centre that could support an event the size of PAX. The Metro Toronto Convention Center is huge, and is directly attached to the sky dome, which can be made into a giant expo hall floor type space.
All that being said, I would guess that Montreal (due to the strong developer presence) would be the most likely location, if a PAX in Canada ever happened.
Also, there are tons of hotels in the downtown Toronto area with boardrooms which could be leveraged like the Seattle ones for Prime...!
ceresWhen the last moon is cast over the last star of morningAnd the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, ModeratorMod Emeritus
They said at Make A Strip this East that there would not be a fifth PAX, period.
And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
As a former Midwesterner, I would love to see a PAX which is more accessible for my midwestern friends.
No kidding. It's funny to have 3 PAX's almost equal distance from my location, each not being a reasonable drive. PAX South seemed poorly placed, IMO.
I can only guess they are staying away from the Midwest to not compete against GenCon and Origins.
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They said at Make A Strip this East that there would not be a fifth PAX, period.
Not surprising, but I think there's a good spread now besides a Euro PAX.
I believe they said in one of the PA: The Series (early one if I'm correct) that they orginally started PAX because Americans lacked the cool consumer oriented video game specific conventions that Europe already had in abundance. I would really doubt a European PAX because of that.
Canada on the other hand... maybe? They already have a couple of employees from the great white north to root for it! But I think they are going to try to settle into the new routine of 4 paxes before they attempt that lol
PAX South had a higher first-year attendance than any PAX in history.
So, no, it wasn't poorly placed.
An odd metric. By inertia alone they could have put PAX anywhere and it would have had the highest first year attendance. That doesn't mean they wouldn't have had higher attendance somewhere else.
PAX South didn't sell out. Fri and Sat took months to sell.
So, maybe, it was poorly placed.
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PAX South had a higher first-year attendance than any PAX in history.
So, no, it wasn't poorly placed.
An odd metric. By inertia alone they could have put PAX anywhere and it would have had the highest first year attendance. That doesn't mean they wouldn't have had higher attendance somewhere else.
PAX South didn't sell out. Fri and Sat took months to sell.
So, maybe, it was poorly placed.
Proving PAX South was in the optimal spot is impossible. I mean, PAX East didn't sell out the first time if I remember. One thing everyone should be able to agree on is: the people that run PAX know way more about who goes and why than anyone. They also know way more about running conventions in various parts of Texas than probably any of us because they undoubtedly did a ton of research. And if they are staying away from GenCon on purpose, that doesn't make them poorly placed. It could make them wisely placed.
PAX South had a higher first-year attendance than any PAX in history.
So, no, it wasn't poorly placed.
An odd metric. By inertia alone they could have put PAX anywhere and it would have had the highest first year attendance. That doesn't mean they wouldn't have had higher attendance somewhere else.
PAX South didn't sell out. Fri and Sat took months to sell.
So, maybe, it was poorly placed.
Selling all of the badges isn't necessarily the only goal of a PAX.
As a midwesterner who lives on the Ohio River, I thought Pax South is fine. It was easy to get tickets and San Antonio was a great town to visit, with room for PAX to grow!
In my mind, Pax Prime is basically Pax North.
I'm privileged that I can take a one week long travel vacation.
Within the framework of PAX=Travel, San Antonio was a pretty good location.
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However as of this posting, PAX South still have 1-day tickets left. And no word on PAX East 2015 dates...
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On top of that even if they do add a new PAX I think it's kind of absurd to think it would be another one in America. It probably would not be in Canada either.
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The Metro Toronto Convention Center downtown hosts Fan Expo each year, which breaks 100,000 visitors across 4 days (more like 3 and a half), and is ~20% bigger than the PAX East location, according to Wikipedia.
The overlap with PAX East, however, is a fair point, and I'm not expecting a PAX North anytime soon.
But selfishly, it would be nice, and the area seems to be capable of supporting the kind of numbers a major event pulls in.
I'm better off going to the States for a PAX so I can take advantage of Tobacco and Alcohol exemptions, and cheap beer prices. A Canadian PAX might ruin me.
As a resident of Milwaukee I can safely say it will never be here. We were unable to keep GenCon because of space issues and so they ditched us for Indianapolis. Our convention center is really small and is basically a waste of space. If PAX were to be here it'd have to be at a large place that doesn't normally have conventions.
A use for Grand Avenue, finally? Take all those closed-up storefronts and convert them to panel rooms and exhibitor spaces?
PAX Detroit would be badass, Cobo Hall could probably work pretty well and there's plenty of hotels nearby.
Wishful thinking, though.
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Just a small point. Toronto passed Chicago for population recently, and is 4-7 times the size of the other cities you mentioned.
EDIT - but I agree we in Toronto shouldn't get a PAX in the next decade. We can too easily head down to Boston.
Not that a PAX Canadiana makes sense (wish that it did), but....
Toronto is the only place in Ontario that has a convention centre that could support an event the size of PAX. The Metro Toronto Convention Center is huge, and is directly attached to the sky dome, which can be made into a giant expo hall floor type space.
All that being said, I would guess that Montreal (due to the strong developer presence) would be the most likely location, if a PAX in Canada ever happened.
Montreal even more dubiously so- our largest con centre is the Palais de Congres, and well...it's not big enough. Add to that the language laws PAX would have to follow (everything billingual, etc.) and it'd be really, really unfeasible.
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Also, there are tons of hotels in the downtown Toronto area with boardrooms which could be leveraged like the Seattle ones for Prime...!
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No kidding. It's funny to have 3 PAX's almost equal distance from my location, each not being a reasonable drive. PAX South seemed poorly placed, IMO.
I can only guess they are staying away from the Midwest to not compete against GenCon and Origins.
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PAX South had a higher first-year attendance than any PAX in history.
So, no, it wasn't poorly placed.
I believe they said in one of the PA: The Series (early one if I'm correct) that they orginally started PAX because Americans lacked the cool consumer oriented video game specific conventions that Europe already had in abundance. I would really doubt a European PAX because of that.
Canada on the other hand... maybe? They already have a couple of employees from the great white north to root for it! But I think they are going to try to settle into the new routine of 4 paxes before they attempt that lol
An odd metric. By inertia alone they could have put PAX anywhere and it would have had the highest first year attendance. That doesn't mean they wouldn't have had higher attendance somewhere else.
PAX South didn't sell out. Fri and Sat took months to sell.
So, maybe, it was poorly placed.
Neo Geo Big Red owners club.
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I have beat Rygar on the NES and many of you have not.
Proving PAX South was in the optimal spot is impossible. I mean, PAX East didn't sell out the first time if I remember. One thing everyone should be able to agree on is: the people that run PAX know way more about who goes and why than anyone. They also know way more about running conventions in various parts of Texas than probably any of us because they undoubtedly did a ton of research. And if they are staying away from GenCon on purpose, that doesn't make them poorly placed. It could make them wisely placed.
Selling all of the badges isn't necessarily the only goal of a PAX.
In my mind, Pax Prime is basically Pax North.
I'm privileged that I can take a one week long travel vacation.
Within the framework of PAX=Travel, San Antonio was a pretty good location.
Neo Geo Big Red owners club.
2009 PAX Puzzle Quest Champion
I have beat Rygar on the NES and many of you have not.