What does the timing of announcing (potential) exilecon and Tencent purchase mean to you?

A couple of thoughts have come to mind over the last 24 hours. A bunch of the best and dankest in the POE community have commented via stream, youtube, forums, twitter, and reddit regarding the purchase of 80% of GGG by Tencent.

But thinking tonight about the timing of the announcement of potential Exilecon in NZ and the timing of the announcement of the Tencent shares makes me contemplate a few things.

The timeline ~~~~

May 18th - announcement goes live about sending out "feelers" for exilecon.

May 21st - announcement goes live about Tencent acquisition of 80% shares of GGG.

Some potential reasons/theories for this timeline:

Gauge user reaction
GGG now have a hard and fast data point for gauging internet on an event. They can quickly see through metrics of signups and declarations of intent how many users were interested in Exilecon PRIOR to Tencent and POST Tencent.

You want good news, or bad news first?
By announcing the potential for Exilecon before the business news of Tencent's purchase, there is a great potential for any ill will to be forgotten or at least lessened considerably by pairing what may seem like "bad news" with "good news".

Maybe no one will notice?
By announcing Tencent's purchase in such a tight window of other announcements (Incursion HYPE, Gem reworks, Atzoatl excitement, Exilecon) this one announcement may drop off along the way side.

This timeline is corrupted
There is also the potential that these two events aren't connected in anyway whatsoever and we're all simply paranoid exiles with too much time and too few challenges to grab.

What are your thoughts on the time table of when Exilecon and Tencent's purchase were announced? Are there other potential reasons for this timeline? Do you think any one of these are plausible?

(edit: mandatory formatting)

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鬼殺し wrote:

Wow, Support. Way to go deleting the one with my response.

Shit.

Okay, here goes again. From memory.

___

The only thing GGG could have done that was worse than announcing Exilecon before the Tencent purchase would be announcing it afterwards. ;)

For those that can stomach where the money is coming from and get their arses down to NZ next year, I reckon Exilecon will be a great event. While I will never not cherish my memories of the various meetups at pubs and bars with the GGG devs over the years, nothing says 'we are one of the big boys now' like your own Con. And Tencent have proven they know how to put on a show for PoE: we've all seen the videos of the lavish events over in China, where Chris and co are treated like superstars in halls decked out with giant statues of Wraeclastian legends and iconography.

It is absolutely in Tencent's best interests to prove to the gaming world that their latest acquisition is legitimately a big player. A convention is essential to this.

Interesting! The timing of it all from a business standpoint seems all too close together to be happenstance.

I wonder though the tentative nature of the announcement, and the seemingly firm commitment to the event being in NZ would seem to pose a bit of a problem for a "coming of age" party. If Tencent wants to show the world it's competing with D3 and cementing POE as the primer ARPG, surely NZ isn't the place to show off? (This isn't meant in any way to belittle NZ, but rather point out the location of other major world Esports events - Shanghai, Beijing, Tokyo, London, Los Angeles to name a few).

Who knows what the business structure of the event will be, but many gaming con's are more of a marketing tool and expense than a stream of revenue in themselves. Trying to keep cost low by keeping Exilecon in NZ would again point to GGG keeping an "small" team feel rather than trying to announce it's presence on the world stage with fanfare and hubbub.

....who knows, thanks for your reply, you've definately given me more to think on.

I don't know if hardcore fans would go to that conference after they sold to Tencent. If something people will follow it in twitch.