Bethesda and Nintendo will return to the Expo Hall floor at PAX Aus this year. The news went out via the PAX Aus social media accounts.
Nintendo will return to the show floor with a booth and brings the Splatoon 3 AU/NZ Championship 2023 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe AU/NZ Championship 2023 competitions with them, with the final rounds held like in the PAX Arena. Bethesda’s inclusion is a little more murky — it “joins PAX Aus’ 10th Anniversary”. What that means is anyone’s guess, but I assume it means we’re in for another queue room sing-a-long.
The convention then confirmed the attendance of several other publishers and hardware makers, who have appeared at the show previously. These include Devolver Digital, Crunchyroll, HTC Vive, Audio-Technica, ASUS ROG, Aftershock PC, Cooler Master, Corsair, and MSI. The show will also welcome Chinese mega publisher NetEase Games, Ukiyo Studios and PikPok Games from New Zealand.
The return of Bethesda and Nintendo marks an important get for the convention, which was memorably bereft of AAA publishers last year. Every major publisher, from Xbox to Ubisoft, opted not to purchase booth space in the Expo Hall in favour of holding their own satellite events off-site. I wondered at the time if this was the beginning of the E3-ification of PAX Aus — in its heyday, it was often said that one was “at” E3 but was, in fact, often found running across Los Angeles from one publisher off-site to another — or if this was just post-pandemic reticence.
It appears it may have been the second option. The major publishers wanted to see if PAX Aus could rebound, and with no guarantee that it would be a success, none of them were willing to fully take the plunge. For some, it seems those concerns have been assuaged. In its press release, PAX Aus says there are more exhibitor announcements to come.
One would assume that if Bethesda is coming back to the Expo Hall, then parent company Xbox will probably show up as well. We’ll let you know as we get closer to the show.
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