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PAX South 2016 Badges

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Posts

  • gunadicgunadic Registered User regular
    YoungFrey wrote: »
    3-days sold out in 1.3 hours last year. Maybe it's a combination of people used to the speeds East and Prime sell out jumping on South lightning fast. Then this year having more realistic expectations. Knowing South is still a good bit smaller and demand isn't as high yet, I think people just aren't as panicked as in 2014.

    I reckon that the quick sell out for last year also had to do with the hype of it being the first south as well. also, for folks from the north, theirs some inherent risk that comes with traveling in January. I was stuck in San Antonio for three days longer than I expected due to the first nor'easter of the year hitting the night before I was supposed to fly out. Wouldn't be surprised if that's tempering a fair chunk of folks, especially since some folks are predicting this winter will be equally bad or worse.

  • Rogue_hunterRogue_hunter Breaks Through Brick Walls Los AngelesRegistered User regular
    Shivin wrote: »
    This will be my first non-prime PAX. I'm really looking forward to a less crowded experience.

    Mine too. 5 Primes, I'm honestly unsure how I'm gonna react after having gotten "comfortable" with Seattle.

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  • japesterjapester Registered User regular
    Shivin wrote: »
    This will be my first non-prime PAX. I'm really looking forward to a less crowded experience.

    Mine too. 5 Primes, I'm honestly unsure how I'm gonna react after having gotten "comfortable" with Seattle.

    I've been to several Primes, a couple of East, and South. Each has a different flavor due to the host city and the size, that's for sure. For a first year, South was just fine. But if it wasn't for Gearbox basically holding their annual fan party here (I'm local) instead of at their studio, there wasn't much going on. Just a few demos, and almost no big industry booths. Most of it was merch. You could comfortably see everything leisurely in one day. I hate cons where you literally can't move due to crowd crush (*cough*NYCC*cough*), but the flip side is a con where you can move...but there's nothing to move to. LOL

    I definitely think there's something to the idea that some folks jumped on it last year just because it was new. Even if I wasn't local, I probably would have been tempted. I think it only used about half the existing con space, so even without the renovations they have room to expand (and therefore print more tickets). And just for historical note, here we are at almost 11 hours and 3 Day tix are still available.... :P

  • The AviatrixThe Aviatrix Registered User regular
    I went to last south after two primes. It was small, there was less to do, but I found that to be good.

    At prime... If there is something I expect to take over an hour I skip it. Be it waiting in line for a panel or playing a game. There is too much to do.

    At south... It was a lot more relaxed. Sitting in long lines for panels was just another chance to socialize with other attendees and I didn't feel like I was missing out. (To be honest the only waste of time for me last year was the riot panel. But waiting in line for the panel was great.) Playing a full length new board game while the expo hall was open was wonderful - something I have yet to do at prime.

    It is smaller, but I feel that means I get to interact with other people more. I don't have to worry about stopping to talk to a friend causing me to miss content (running into a friend I only see at pax caused me to be a few minutes late of the razor panel capping this past prime.)

    Also... I got a lot more into table top games after south last year.

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  • Chuck Liddell FanChuck Liddell Fan Registered User regular
    After grabbing passes for Pax South, I am thinking it maybe a chance of pace compared to prime since as the guy above mentioned there is TONS to do.

    Are there events (panels, table top etc) held in other locations like Prime or is it all pretty much in the convention centre?

    Have to say it was also refreshing that the passes didn't sell out in like 15 minutes :)

    Oh my goodness
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  • OpSteelOpSteel neighbor of the village pindiot Fort Worth TEXASRegistered User regular
    After grabbing passes for Pax South, I am thinking it maybe a chance of pace compared to prime since as the guy above mentioned there is TONS to do.

    Are there events (panels, table top etc) held in other locations like Prime or is it all pretty much in the convention centre?

    Have to say it was also refreshing that the passes didn't sell out in like 15 minutes :)

    Everything at South is in the convention center. I believe I read somewhere that the San Antonio convention space is the largest PAX convention center by far, especially after the expansion.

  • LisabeybiLisabeybi Registered User regular
    japester wrote: »
    Agreed on the oddness of 3 day passes still being available. We're going on six hours now, and they still have "low" availability. I thought they went much faster last year, but I didn't catch the sale as quickly.

    Just thinking out loud, I wonder if we have more passes for sale this year or if PAX veterans are skipping South this year because it was disappointingly small last year. I was in the industry for a while, so I was expecting it to be small. Few companies want to spend the $$$ on a con that may not have big attendance (and therefore produce a good return on investment). That will change with time. But I know quite a few people who have attended Prime and/or East who expected South to start out much larger and were griping about the lack of activities. I think all of them are passing this year. More fun for us, but at the same time ticket sales will entice companies to attend, so I want things to sell out. 8-)

    South 2015 was my first, so I have no comparison, but we found quite a bit to do all 3 days. What kind of activities were lacking? I know they didn't expect such a huge turnout and were pleasantly surprised, so I would imagine this next one will be bigger/better.

  • YoungFreyYoungFrey Registered User regular
    OpSteel wrote: »
    After grabbing passes for Pax South, I am thinking it maybe a chance of pace compared to prime since as the guy above mentioned there is TONS to do.

    Are there events (panels, table top etc) held in other locations like Prime or is it all pretty much in the convention centre?

    Have to say it was also refreshing that the passes didn't sell out in like 15 minutes :)

    Everything at South is in the convention center. I believe I read somewhere that the San Antonio convention space is the largest PAX convention center by far, especially after the expansion.

    I think South is a good middle ground between Prime and East. East has a good space, but the convention center isn't near anything. Food & hotels are all remote. Prime is near tons of great stuff, but the convention center is woefully lacking. South has all the space it needs to keep expanding, and it's got nearby hotels and food (although in a very touristy district). South might not be the ultimate PAX experience yet, but it will grow into something amazing.

  • gunadicgunadic Registered User regular
    Khoo posted on a Reddit thread that in the first 10 minutes, they sold as many 3-days as they had allotted for South 2015. I think we can expect a much larger event this year round.

  • NightmarenNightmaren Registered User regular
    Sounds like the con is growing then. This is my first PAX experience and I'm very excited. I've been going to cons for over ten years and trying to find time for the other PAX events and get tickets has proven difficult, and figured South would be a good place to start.

  • mayapplemayapple TennesseeRegistered User regular
    YoungFrey wrote: »
    I think South is a good middle ground between Prime and East. East has a good space, but the convention center isn't near anything. Food & hotels are all remote. Prime is near tons of great stuff, but the convention center is woefully lacking. South has all the space it needs to keep expanding, and it's got nearby hotels and food (although in a very touristy district). South might not be the ultimate PAX experience yet, but it will grow into something amazing.

    I def agree. That is the hardest part about East for me, as a former Bostonian, I can get around, but if you aren't familiar you feel stuck at the con site or at the mercy of the shuttles. I really liked the Riverwalk area for South. Everything you need is within walking distance.

    I also think it depends on what you are looking to get out of a Pax that determines which you city you like more. I personally go to meet up with friends and have a three day game fest. The expo hall and panels are a bonus. We do BYOC and chill. I also leave my kiddos at home, so its a mini vacay. This puts South very high in my best pax scenarios.
    japester wrote: »
    Few companies want to spend the $$$ on a con that may not have big attendance (and therefore produce a good return on investment). That will change with time. But I know quite a few people who have attended Prime and/or East who expected South to start out much larger and were griping about the lack of activities. I think all of them are passing this year. More fun for us, but at the same time ticket sales will entice companies to attend, so I want things to sell out. 8-)

    Also, last year there was three large national cons in three weeks (including one on the same weekend), pax east was only a month away, and I was told Pax hadn't confirmed the use of that much space due to first year ticket numbers/cost.
    gunadic wrote: »
    Khoo posted on a Reddit thread that in the first 10 minutes, they sold as many 3-days as they had allotted for South 2015. I think we can expect a much larger event this year round.

    They also didnt want as large of a crowd last year. Hence only booking for so many people. They needed to learn the facilities, figure out layouts and space, train the enforcers. I expect a MUCH larger turnout this year. I still expect it to feel more laid back though, it is the South after all. :)

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  • gunadicgunadic Registered User regular
    mayapple wrote: »
    They also didnt want as large of a crowd last year. Hence only booking for so many people. They needed to learn the facilities, figure out layouts and space, train the enforcers. I expect a MUCH larger turnout this year. I still expect it to feel more laid back though, it is the South after all. :)

    Not going to lie, the fact that we had the Enforcers (who are awesome as always) complemented by the ridiculously friendly/helpful/enthusiastic convention center staff was AWESOME. Its such a nice change of pace compared to the surly folks we've got up in Boston.

  • AggressAggress Houston, TXRegistered User regular
    I am surprised there is still 3 day passes available. By surprised I mean also slightly nervous about turnout. :/

  • mayapplemayapple TennesseeRegistered User regular
    Aggress wrote: »
    I am surprised there is still 3 day passes available. By surprised I mean also slightly nervous about turnout. :/

    They have already sold more tickets than they had people at Pax south last year.... so at minimum it will be as big as last year. Which was still a large crowd with lots to do, just smaller than other paxes.

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  • xaldin87xaldin87 Gaymer SaTxRegistered User regular
    Aggress wrote: »
    I am surprised there is still 3 day passes available. By surprised I mean also slightly nervous about turnout. :/

    Roberth Khoo said they sold the same amount of 3 day badges last year in 10 minutes. Turn out will not be a problems.

    The way I see it, every life is a pile of good things and bad things. The good things don't always soften the bad things, but vice-versa, the bad things don't necessarily spoil the good things and make them unimportant.

  • fynixfynix Registered User regular
    Aggress wrote: »
    I am surprised there is still 3 day passes available. By surprised I mean also slightly nervous about turnout. :/

    The other thing to keep in mind here is the expansion of the convention center. IIRC, it will now be bigger than the BCEC (which is gigantic), so it should allow for way more people to attend. This seems to be corroborated by rkhoo's info about badge sales.

  • SkeleVaderSkeleVader Your Friendly Dark Lord of Destruction Registered User regular
    fynix wrote: »
    Aggress wrote: »
    I am surprised there is still 3 day passes available. By surprised I mean also slightly nervous about turnout. :/

    The other thing to keep in mind here is the expansion of the convention center. IIRC, it will now be bigger than the BCEC (which is gigantic), so it should allow for way more people to attend. This seems to be corroborated by rkhoo's info about badge sales.

    While the convention center is getting an expansion, Pax will not be using all that space. If you look at the upcoming events for Convention Center, you can a couple other events taking place during that time. Pax isn't even listed so there might be others as well. I am sure Pax South will be larger than last year, but do not expect East levels yet.

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  • Desert LeviathanDesert Leviathan Registered User regular
    edited September 2015
    I made the silly mistake of buying an extra 3 day pass, just in case someone from the forums wasn't able to get one in time... and here we are, almost 24 hours later, and they're still for sale. Ah well, should be easy enough to sell closer to the show time.

    Desert Leviathan on
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  • TrailsongTrailsong Bard, Rogue, and Part-Time Legend Somewhere East of insanityRegistered User regular
    SkeleVader wrote: »
    While the convention center is getting an expansion, Pax will not be using all that space.

    The expansion on the Henry B isn't nearly completed yet; it won't be finished until at least the end of 2016.

  • fynixfynix Registered User regular
    SkeleVader wrote: »
    While the convention center is getting an expansion, Pax will not be using all that space. If you look at the upcoming events for Convention Center, you can a couple other events taking place during that time. Pax isn't even listed so there might be others as well. I am sure Pax South will be larger than last year, but do not expect East levels yet.

    True, but my main point of having more space for attendees (especially considering we didn't use the whole space last year) still stands.

    Also, the only event I can find is only 450 people, which may be in a single room vs. taking a considerable amount of space away from PAX. But also, to your point, PAX isn't even listed, so who knows what else they may have omitted. :P

  • SkeleVaderSkeleVader Your Friendly Dark Lord of Destruction Registered User regular
    fynix wrote: »
    SkeleVader wrote: »
    While the convention center is getting an expansion, Pax will not be using all that space. If you look at the upcoming events for Convention Center, you can a couple other events taking place during that time. Pax isn't even listed so there might be others as well. I am sure Pax South will be larger than last year, but do not expect East levels yet.

    True, but my main point of having more space for attendees (especially considering we didn't use the whole space last year) still stands.

    Also, the only event I can find is only 450 people, which may be in a single room vs. taking a considerable amount of space away from PAX. But also, to your point, PAX isn't even listed, so who knows what else they may have omitted. :P

    Also remember that Pax needs a lot of set up and tear down time. So any event taking place before or after the official Pax dates will have an affect. This is why Pax Prime was not on Labor day weekend this year.

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  • DaftDevDaftDev Boston, MARegistered User regular
    Trailsong wrote: »
    SkeleVader wrote: »
    While the convention center is getting an expansion, Pax will not be using all that space.

    The expansion on the Henry B isn't nearly completed yet; it won't be finished until at least the end of 2016.

    True, but they are expected to open the new space in January 2016 and finish demolition of the old space afterwards. Looks like that new space could be completed in time for PAX if the schedule doesn't slip.

  • ShivinShivin OregonRegistered User regular
    I remember my first couple PAX Primes '07 and '08. They had ticket sales almost up till the day of the show. The fact they are selling out even in a week or so shows that they community is interested. If the tickets sell out then the vendors will be there. South is going to be awesome no matter what!

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  • japesterjapester Registered User regular
    We're about 35 hours in, and 3 days passes are still available. Yowza.
    Fantastic to hear Khoo confirm that the numbers are much higher this year. I was hoping for that. With luck, this means a lot more developer booths this time around.
    Lisabeybi wrote: »
    South 2015 was my first, so I have no comparison, but we found quite a bit to do all 3 days. What kind of activities were lacking? I know they didn't expect such a huge turnout and were pleasantly surprised, so I would imagine this next one will be bigger/better.

    Sounds like it will definitely be bigger and better. :D As long as you had fun, that's all that matters. Big and small cons both have their charm. Prime at it's biggest (I'm talking game companies' budgets, not attendance) meant tons more swag, easily 20-30x as many demo boths, dozens of video previews, and 20x as many panels. It's just enormous. On the flip side, as others have said, it was very easy at South to see and do just about everything you wanted because the list was short and you had all weekend to do it in. Based on Khoo's comments about ticket #'s, I'm thinking this year might require a little more planning to get the most out of it. But that's a good thing.

  • zealezeale Saint LouisRegistered User regular
    I feel like Prime is like the holiday season where it's tons and tons of heavy hitters showing off their new stuff and everyone wants you to buy the big budget games. South's timing and general atmosphere felt more like, "and here's all of the other awesome stuff too!" I loved the hell out of South for completely different reasons than East and Prime.

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  • YoungFreyYoungFrey Registered User regular
    zeale wrote: »
    I feel like Prime is like the holiday season where it's tons and tons of heavy hitters showing off their new stuff and everyone wants you to buy the big budget games. South's timing and general atmosphere felt more like, "and here's all of the other awesome stuff too!" I loved the hell out of South for completely different reasons than East and Prime.

    South 2015 was very light on big publishers, but these days many games slip from Fall to Spring. There a good number of AAA games coming out after January. I think the only reason they didn't go to Saouth 2015 was because the show was unproven, and probalby harder to fit into their schedule. So as the show builds, I'd expect the big houses to bring more of those games to South. But I expect South will still stay the indier of the PAX. You aren't going to see CoD there ever.

  • gunadicgunadic Registered User regular
    Trailsong wrote: »
    The expansion on the Henry B isn't nearly completed yet; it won't be finished until at least the end of 2016.

    Not exactly. The expansion currently under construction is still slated for a January 2015 open. The late 2016 date is for the demolition of the old expo halls at Market/Alamo and conversion of the space into an extension of Hemisfair.

  • jmb83jmb83 Registered User regular
    So, was anyone else surprised that it took sometime late on the 19th to early on the 20th for PAX 3-day passes to sell out? Last year it seemed to only take an afternoon.

  • The AviatrixThe Aviatrix Registered User regular
    jmb83 wrote: »
    So, was anyone else surprised that it took sometime late on the 19th to early on the 20th for PAX 3-day passes to sell out? Last year it seemed to only take an afternoon.

    Robert Khoo said on reddit that the total amount of 3 days sold last year were sold in the first ten minutes this year. (Which took 1.5 hrs to sell out last year.) So the total quantity of 3-days is a lot higher (as was the immediate demand).
    I am surprised, but that's because I didn't anticipate the massive increase in supply. If supply hadn't increased my initial panic of being 2 minutes late to seeing the tweet may have been justified when you consider the time in queue.

    Source:
    https://www.reddit.com/r/PAX/comments/3l8v24/should_we_be_concerned_pax_south_3day_still_hasnt/cv4inhe

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  • Goddess of MadnessGoddess of Madness Registered User regular
    Who cares? We're going to have fun and play the hell out of a bunch of games.

  • LazorzLazorz Tokyo, JPRegistered User regular
    Yeah, I'm not sure why everyone seems so obsessed over how fast the badges sell out... Maybe you guys have never been to Prime or East but I'd say enjoy the smaller, laid-back PAX experience while you can.

  • YoungFreyYoungFrey Registered User regular
    edited September 2015
    Lazorz wrote: »
    Yeah, I'm not sure why everyone seems so obsessed over how fast the badges sell out... Maybe you guys have never been to Prime or East but I'd say enjoy the smaller, laid-back PAX experience while you can.
    Everyone wants badges to sell out immediate...ly after they have theirs. South 15 was a much smaller show than Prime or East, and I think it's pretty clear people want it to grow more in that direction. So when it takes over 50 times longer to sell out 3-day (a thing the Big PAXen have fewer of each year), I see why people worry (unnecessarily in my opinion).

    Seriously though. The first year of East, it took 10 months to sell out. Of 3-day passes. The next year it still took 5. Then 2.25. Then 1 day. Then 45 minutes. Then 9 minutes. Despite the international reach of the event (especially these forums), every PAX is mostly locals. It just takes time for the word to spread in the community that PAX is where you need to be. But word will spread, and soon the idea of 3 days being long to sell out the whole event will be a quaint memory.

    YoungFrey on
  • The AviatrixThe Aviatrix Registered User regular
    If the above posts are directed at me...

    I was surprised at the time. That's it. Based on last year's sale, I anticipated a quick sell.
    (Ok, I also felt silly afterwards. As I was (almost) as prepared as I am for prime sales... and they were still on sale the next day.)

    At no point was this slow sale claimed to be a bad thing, or something to worry about. Just unexpected. (As for wanting badges to sell out immediately after getting them... Are you saying that because you really think people are that petty? I... don't even understand a reason this would be a desire...)

    There was not concern over not having fun or a desire for badges to be sold out instantly. It was weird for 3 day badges to take so long to sell out considering it only took 1.5 hours last year. I'm not sure how that cannot be seen as odd without knowing that supply increased.
    I'd actually be curious as to people's opinions of what that could mean for future sales. (Will South have a trend of slow sales as people don't feel the need to rush due to large supply? Will the first 10 minutes have reduced people buying? Or will people still rush despite the multi-day sell out on 3-day badges?) And I'd love to see a graph indicating quantity of tickets sold at specific times.

    Maybe I have negativity bias reading your posts. I apologize if you did not read "surprise" as a negative reaction.

    (On another note... Do you have any OTHER South news I can obsess over instead?)

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  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited September 2015
    @The Aviatrix Unless someone is specifically calling you out, there is no reason to assume every post is about you.

    zerzhul on
  • zerzhulzerzhul Registered User, Moderator mod
    On topic though, I would love to see all the data regarding sales of badges over the past few years with sales numbers and such. I love data. It's too bad PAX doesn't talk about numbers :(

  • gunadicgunadic Registered User regular
    And we have 3-day sell-out!

  • YoungFreyYoungFrey Registered User regular
    To put the sales in perspective. I put the all-day sales for every PAX on a graph. The y-axis is in minutes, and that is a log scale. The dashed line for South is the Robert Khoo "what we sold last year sold in 10 minutes". I know this is only the 3-day passes, but those big jumps in sellout times for Aus and South (that we see nothing close to for East or Prime) tell me there was a big jump in supply.
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  • japesterjapester Registered User regular
    zerzhul wrote: »
    On topic though, I would love to see all the data regarding sales of badges over the past few years with sales numbers and such. I love data. It's too bad PAX doesn't talk about numbers :(

    Agreed. I would love to analyze that data. PAX is such a phenomenon, someone could probably write a great paper about trends, sales, cultural influence, etc.

    As for the above discussion about selling out, I echo the latter sentiments. I was marking how long 3 day was available for historical purposes and because I found it interesting. Commenting doesn't automatically equal worry. ;-)

    As for why it would be important, it's simple. PAX is a business venture. Ticket sales are directly tied to it's success. Not enough attendees, and publishers won't want to come. And if that continued, PAX would move on and seek another venue elsewhere. That would impact me, personally, since South is barely 15 minutes from my house. :P You could make the assumption that every PAX eventually goes bananas and sells out, but people who invest millions and millions of dollars in these ventures aren't big on assumptions. At some point PAX will reach saturation and attendance will decline. Having just doubled the number of PAX locations in the last couple of years, you can bet Khoo and his team are monitoring sales numbers like hawks...

  • YoungFreyYoungFrey Registered User regular
    I crunched some more badge numbers (of course from the One True Spreadsheet). Particularly, I looked at the sellout times for every kind of badge for Prime compared to East.

    As you can see, at Prime all the badges follow about the same curve. Slow improvement for 3 years, then a critical mass is hit and the times drop about 50 fold. The exception being all-days dropping quicker in '13, but they may have reduced availability. But at East we only see that for 3-Day and Saturday. Friday and Sunday are still taking over a week to sell out, and even saw a slowdown. So either there were a lot of 3-day badges they converted to individuals, or East added some capacity. Also it shows pretty clearly the demand for Saturday is way higher (makes sense).

    I think South is much more likely to follow the East model than the Prime one simply because it can grow a lot while Prime hit it's limits years ago.

    These plots are have a logarithmic y-axis, in minutes. If you aren't familiar with this kind of plot, it means each band is an order of magnitide bigger (unlike a normal plot where they all represent the exact same range). It's a good way to plot data with a huge range. In case you were wondering. 1,000,000 = 23 months, 100,000 = 70 days, 10,000 = 1 week, 1,000 = 16 hours, and 100 = 1 hour 40 min.
    PRIME
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    EAST
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  • SkeleVaderSkeleVader Your Friendly Dark Lord of Destruction Registered User regular
    Love the graphs @YoungFrey
    The one piece of vital info we are missing is how many total badges are sold of each type. As you said, East and South have had some room to grow in their convention centers so that will mess with sell out times a bit.
    I would absolutely love if PA ever released the badge totals so I could add it to the spreadsheet, but it is obvious that info will remain secret.

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