Pax North?

Hoots · September 2014

Maybe next year can you have pax north for Canadians? I bet a lot of people will come, again its just a suggestion.

GeeCee · September 2014

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.

zerzhul · September 2014

they have said that they're done expanding for the foreseeable future

Mallard77 · September 2014

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...

orthancstone · September 2014

http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/189204/pax-east-2015-save-the-date/p1

Decius · September 2014

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.

admanb · September 2014

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.

miker525 · September 2014

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.

StarYoshi · September 2014

I'd be shocked, if/when they announce another venue (or a change of venue), that it would be anywhere other than Chicago. It just makes sense.

Desert Leviathan · September 2014

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).

Dolarrah · September 2014

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.

Sterica · September 2014

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?

m0nk33 · September 2014

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.

Forar · September 2014

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.

BouwsT · September 2014

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.

PurpleSky · September 2014

Dolarrah wrote: »

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.

Gosling · September 2014

PurpleSky wrote: »

Dolarrah wrote: »

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?

schuss · October 2014

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?

mRahmani · October 2014

Dolarrah wrote: »

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.

Wishful thinking, though.

Dolarrah · November 2014

PAX Detroit ... hmmm, 100,000 Young Adults who played GTA let loose on the streets of Detroit.... The real life implications.... CRINGE

LoonyEclipse · November 2014

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.

Finnish_Line · December 2014

Dolarrah wrote: »

My guess would be Milwaukee, Cleveland, Toronto or even Detroit before Chicago. They like the tier2 cities based on the 3 locations so far.

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.

Dolarrah · December 2014

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

DaveRH · January 2015

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.

LoonyEclipse · January 2015

Eh, i doubt PAX North'll ever be a thing.

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.

DaveRH · January 2015

I didn't even think of the language laws thing Loony...You are right, there is no way that would happen.

Dolarrah · January 2015

Calgary and Edmonton to close to Seattle I would think too.

Headhunter · February 2015

DaveRH wrote: »

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...!

littlelion2k · March 2015

As a former Midwesterner, I would love to see a PAX which is more accessible for my midwestern friends.

FortyTwo · March 2015

My fair city is losing Otakon for at least a few years. What I would do to see PAX come to the land of pleasant living.

ceres · March 2015

They said at Make A Strip this East that there would not be a fifth PAX, period.

darren66 · March 2015

littlelion2k wrote: »

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.

Sterica · March 2015

ceres wrote: »

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.

joshofalltrades · March 2015

darren66 wrote: »

littlelion2k wrote: »

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.

PAX South had a higher first-year attendance than any PAX in history.

So, no, it wasn't poorly placed.

Keroan · March 2015

Bobkins Flymo wrote: »

ceres wrote: »

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

darren66 · March 2015

joshofalltrades wrote: »

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.

YoungFrey · March 2015

darren66 wrote: »

joshofalltrades wrote: »

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.

joshofalltrades · April 2015

darren66 wrote: »

joshofalltrades wrote: »

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.

Virgil_Leads_You · April 2015

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.

Jigglypuff510 · April 2015

I think a better idea would be some sort of 24/7 PAX in certain cities.

darren66 · January 2016

Oh hey, look --- PAX South didn't sell out again.

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