E3 2017 Report: Security Guards Stole Exhibitor Equipment, More Robberies Reported

The person didn't want to be identified for fear of retaliation from the ESA.

By John Gold /

Earlier this month, the video game industry's biggest event of the year, Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), was held in Los Angeles, and for the first time ever, non-media people were allowed to buy tickets so they can have a go at some of the upcoming video games hitting this later this year and beyond. Aside from overcrowding, long lines, and expensive grub, attendees and exhibitors had another thing to watch out for, and they are robberies.

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In a report by Kotaku, it mentions how the trade show opening its doors to the public made everything much worse for attendees and industry folk alike. Not only did the total attendance increase by more than 15,000 people (from E3 2016's 50,300 to 2017's 68,400), the Electronic Software Association (ESA), the governing body that handles E3, didn't even change much to accommodate the added glut of people. If that sounds bad, hold on to your seats, as it gets much, much worse.

According to the report, there's at least two documented instances of robberies taking place on the actual show floor. Indie development studio Milky Tea's Scott Swarbick and Kevin Campbell, mentioned that two people grabbed the studio's laptops from the stand where they were showcasing the game. Swarbick states, "One of them distracted the Dell employee, asking him questions about the hardware and directing him to one side of the stand. As we were all distracted, another person picked up one of the laptops and walked away." This happened twice in one day, and the laptops have yet to be recovered.

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Want another one? An E3 exhibitor who didn't want to be identified for fear of retaliation from the ESA, claims that equipment was stolen out of the LACC meeting room by actual event security guards. In an email sent by a representative of the company, it recounted how the guards stole the items.

Our meeting room was broken into the night before the show started by E3 security staff. They stole a laptop, two consoles, and four headsets. They used one of our backpacks to get it out. [Security] had clear camera footage of the guards entering and exiting, but because they couldn’t actually see them carrying the stuff, they gave us some !*$% excuse about it not being prosecutable/enforceable. We’re still pushing them for a satisfactory conclusion.

Check out the full report of the thefts, super long lines and more just to see how messed up the situation was.

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You can read all about WhatCulture's E3 2017 coverage right here.

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