Sony will skip E3 again this year, a major blow to the annual video game conference in a year that will also see the release of the next PlayStation. Instead, the corporation will hold its own events throughout the year to talk about the next-gen PlayStation 5.
“We have great respect for the ESA as an organisation, but we do not feel the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year,” a spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz.
Sony was once a regular fixture of E3, with a huge booth on the show floor and an annual press conference full of game and hardware announcements. In 2019, however, Sony skipped the show, saying it wanted to “think differently.” Critics and observers figured that Sony had pulled out because it didn’t have much to show and that it would be back in 2020 to build up buzz for the PlayStation 5, which will be out this fall. But now, it’s become clear that Sony no longer sees value in attending the video game industry’s biggest trade show.
It’s perhaps a sign of the times. Microsoft has also been distancing itself from E3, instead holding Xbox events and interviews at the L.A. Live complex next door, and last year’s E3 felt strangely empty. Last year, E3 also leaked the addresses and phone numbers of thousands of attending journalists.
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