EB Games Expo

The 2015 EB Games Expo was held at the Sydney Showground, located in Sydney Olympic Park. The expo occupied The Dome, its neighboring pavilions and the Southee Complex to the north of The Dome. The event was open on two "daylight" and "twilight" sessions, each 6 and 4 hours in length respectively, on 2 and 3 October, with one 6-hour session on 4 October, following the same format as the previous two years.[8]

The 2015 edition of the EB Games Expo was the first without the presence of Riot Games or League of Legends. In previous years, Riot had staged the annual Oceanic Regional Finals for League at the convention, but had instead chosen to host it instead in August 2015 at Luna Park Sydney, where it was able to host a larger audience than the Southee Complex at the Sydney Showground; the event's previous venue at the 2014 EB Games Expo.[9]

The Expo featured a performance from comedy duo The Umbilical Brothers,[10] and comedian John Robertson, presenting his stand-up act Horror Stories from a Bad Gamer.[8]

The Expo was the third to showcase games for the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, and the fifth to showcase games for the Wii U. Highly anticipated titles Electronic Arts' Star Wars: Battlefront and the twelfth entry in the Call of Duty franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, were made exclusive to play at Sony's PlayStation stand.[7][11][12] Activision showcased the fifth entry in the Skylanders franchise with Skylanders: Superchargers, promoting the game at the event by giving away exclusive "Frightful Fiesta" Skylanders figures to the first few attendees to visit the booth. In addition to Forza Motorsport 6 and Remedy Entertainment's Quantum Break, the highly anticipated Halo 5: Guardians was available to play at the Xbox booth, showcasing the game's 24-player "Warzone" multiplayer mode on the show floor.[13] The Xbox stand also made use of a "One Pass", a card that allowed attendees to tap in after playing certain games in the booth, entering a draw to win prizes. In contrast to previous years where the One Pass was a separate card, it was incorporated into the wristband sold upon the purchase of a ticket to the expo.[8]

^[a] The Xbox pavilion was referred to as the "Xbox One" pavilion during EB Games Expo 2015.

Following an identical format to previous years, the 2016 edition of the EB Games Expo was open on two sessions on the Friday and Saturday of the expo, known as "daylight" and "twilight" sessions, and a single session on Sunday. Daylight sessions last six hours, from 9am to 3pm, while twilight sessions run for 5 hours from 4pm to 9pm; the Sunday session, designated as "family day", lasts eight hours.[16]

The expo featured an "E-Sports Alley", touted as an e-sports competition venue for "kids, parents and pro e-athletes". Over 2,000 prizes, worth $10,000 in total, were given away in competitions held at the E-Sports Alley.[17] Competitions for cosplayers were also held, as per tradition at the expo, with exclusive competitions and prizes, worth $5,000, available to those who purchased an "Ultimate Cosplayer Pass" ticket – a new ticket class introduced for the 2016 expo.[17]

Non-gaming attractions at the 2016 edition of the EB Games Expo include the annual Lego exhibition, a "horror maze", movie vehicles, and the Zing Pop Culture and EB Games Megastore.[17]

Nine video game publishers have so far been confirmed as exhibitors at the EB Games Expo 2016, including Activision, Nintendo, Sony Interactive Entertainment (PlayStation), Ubisoft and Microsoft Studios (Xbox).[17] Electronic Arts, who have exhibited at the EB Games Expo since 2011, have not yet announced their intention to exhibit at the 2016 edition of the expo. PlayStation VR will make its second appearance at the expo, and will be its final appearance at the show before its scheduled commercial release in October 2016.[14]