I love all the people baking at the rumored $30m and $60m price tags for E3.
Even back when I did reporting on E3 and TGS, we would regularly hear numbers like $20m to $30m for booths. This was back around 2006.
To understand how those numbers are a thing, you need to understand what goes into a show like E3 for a studio or publisher.
Aside from the fees for floor staff, booth space, etc... You also have to pay for space and rooms in the basement where all the real business meetings around E3 are held.
Beyond this, for a company like Microsoft or Sony, you have to pay dozens of full time and contract employees for easily 3-5 months to work on your show presence. This includes planning, design, manufacturing, and setup of every single little thing you see on the show floor. Most of it is custom designed and built for each individual show. All of stations people line up to play at are built to extreme levels of tolerance to be able to stand up to whatever abuse convention goers throw at them. This is not cheap.
Making a simple flat hanging sign and getting it hung on the show floor can easily cost $15,000. Now imaging making one that is circular, multi-layered, covered on lights or LED displays, and making sure it is solid enough, safe enough, and sturdy enough to get hung at the show. Then getting it raised up.
In addition to flying out, feeding, and housing all your employees and contractors you also need to coordinate meetings and events with tons of other studios and publishing houses. This isn't just a couple days to party and show off games. E3 is a business gathering. Outside of TGS business days, E3 is pretty much the only place where so many studios send top talent and you can arrange group meetings in private without risk of exposure. Part of what you are paying for is the opportunity that these business gathers present.
Never underestimate just how much work can be done in a simple high pressure 15m meeting at a convention like E3. I have heard of entire deals being proposed and negotiated at E3 between publishers and studios that never even met before. Sure, the contracts are signed months later, but the deals wouldn't have occurred without both being at the show.
When I see people talking about all the ways that money could be spent better, it is clear to me few of them have ever been on the business side of something like E3. The money isn't just paying for the show presence. Saving the money isn't just saving some marketing expense. Not being at E3 is also an opportunity cost. You miss the opportunity to meet with your peers across the industry, get to know each other, build lasting relationships, and potentially create and release amazing new games together.