ESA: 45,000 attendees, 200 companies expected to be at E3

ESA boss Michael Gallagher has said that 45,000 people are expected to attend E3 this week, with 200 companies set to exhibit at the show.

"One thing that we found — and you’ve walked this path with me over a number of years now — is we are very focused on the quality of the experience of E3 as opposed to the quantity of the experience," Gallagher told VentureBeat.

"We are going to look to replicate the success of the past two years, which means an attendance figure right around 45,000 through turnstiles. But those aren’t the only numbers that are worth paying attention to. We have over 200 companies that are going to be present and exhibiting at the show.

"That’s a continued escalation in terms of the number of exhibitors. The number of foreign media and foreign retailers has continued to climb from the very high levels of last year because of the international reach and importance of E3. We see very strong returns there."

But not done there, he dropped another stat bomb: 35,000 video monitors will be used throughout the show this week.

E3 week begins tonight with Microsoft's E3 press conference from 5.30pm BST, but the show itself doesn't start until tomorrow.