I see your point and I can see where you are coming from but I sure hope this never happens.  

The gaming rooms are already loud enough - having the additional noise from nearby people who are NOT playing the game?  That sounds awful.

I'm also one of those people who enjoys looking at everything that is up for sale - even things in which I normally have no interest.  The idea of having to go all over the ICC to see everything means I personally will spend a lot less than I do presently.  Most of us will already walk 5-10 miles a day while at Gen Con; the idea of having to, effectively, hunt down vendors like some gamer scavenger hunt? No thanks.

Even if it is true that this would result in more sales (which I doubt), this won't ever happen.

There's a reason that pretty much every convention (gaming or otherwise) does it the way Gen Con does.  It allows for limited hours, security and lockup overnight with minimal work.

No one wants to try to staff these things for 16 hours (much less 24 hours).

Even at smaller conventions it is a little confusing when they try to integrate the gaming areas with the merchandise areas; at the first PAX Unplugged there was one dedicated vendor section in this big open hall, but then a bunch of other booths were attached to the sections where their tournaments and such were happening, and it was genuinely hard to tell which ones were selling things and which ones just had random tournament prizes and things sitting out waiting to be awarded (as all of them had big bold signage of course).

I do remember at Gen Con 2021 that Wyrd Miniatures (and I think a few others) had their booths (or a booth, anyway) set up in the wargaming halls. Not sure if that was due to any COVID-based restrictions on the Dealer's Hall or what.

Obviously SOMEONE did not get an amazing photo of themselves as a barbarian in that booth

Not going to complain about any vendor that stepped in to fill the sponsorship void last year.

I'll cast another vote for "put the big booths on the edges".  In past years it has been really difficult to get to some of the small vendors who have the misfortune to be stuck between a couple big vendors.

Not just difficult to find, mind you (though they're that, too).  Difficult to actually reach.  The big booths often have queues running out into the aisles.  The people in the queues are standing in front of other vendors, making it very difficult to approach those booths and see what they are offering.

People will visit the big "destination" booths wherever they happen to be in the exhibit hall.  By putting them around the edges Gen Con could help out the little guys by letting attendees find their booths and approach them.

Those big booth queues are not supposed to stretch into the aisle anymore.  I thought they were forced to use up booth space to manage the line or queue them outside the hall.

I know I’m late to the discussion, but do we even know if the “big guys” are confirmed for Gencon this year?  

I was at Gencon last year, and while it was nice because I didn’t feel like there were a few huge booths dominating the floor, I did miss seeing all the new CMON projects and demos.  Luckily Mythic Games filled that void for my groups.

No reports of any of the big guys backing out so I would say they are all still coming.

Gen Con Mike indicated in another thread that exhibitor response was positive.  Of course we won't know until Gen Con drops the vendor list (probably sometime in May).

I concentrate on RPG exhibitors since that's my jam.  I start to cycle through websites in January trying to figure out who is attending and who isn't.  Paizo, Privateer Press, and Goodman Games are returning.  Most publishers, though, just don't post their Gen Con plans.

I do think that publishers without a US office may skip 2022, but we'll see what happens!  

Mike

I did see that some of the "big guys" are showing up at other conventions in the US this year.  For example I saw CMON was at WonderCon.

They're a smaller company, but Corvus Belli made the trip from Spain to Adepticon, and plan to be at Gen Con with a new 2 player starter set for Infinity 

Last year I missed due to the new dates conflicting with a wedding. With Gencon back on Schedule this year, it is a go regardless of Paizo or No Paizo.