Last year, Sony decided to skip the annual E3 event, and in recent weeks, rumors have suggested that the company will, once again, skip the yearly expo.
On Monday, Sony finally revealed that they will not attend this year’s E3 event, as they gave Games Industry the following statement regarding why they’re skipping the annual convention for the second year in a row.
“After thorough evaluation SIE has decided not to participate in E3 2020,” said a Sony Interactive Entertainment spokesperson. “We have great respect for the ESA as an organization, but we do not feel the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year.”
Sony’s spokesperson also added that the company “will build upon our global events strategy in 2020 by participating in hundreds of consumer events across the globe.”
Even though Sony won’t bring the PlayStation 5 to this year’s E3, they could reveal it on Tuesday, January 14, as they’ve announced an event called “Experience PlayStation” that’ll take place at New York City’s Sony Square. According to the event’s listing on Sony’s website, the event will run until next month, as it’ll conclude on February 16.
Sony still has a ton of PlayStation 4 exclusives that they could show off, as games like The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima are scheduled to come out later this year, so we could see more from those two games during the month-long “Experience PlayStation” event. Of course, both games will likely be remastered for the PS5 as well given that they’re being released right before we head into the next generation.
Back in December, Microsoft revealed the Xbox Series X, which will also be released during this year’s holiday season. The console resembles a PC tower, and it’s much taller than its predecessor. So, Sony is already behind Microsoft in that respect.
Even if Sony doesn’t end up revealing the PlayStation 5 during their month-long event, they’ll likely do so shortly thereafter. It’s also likely that, upon its reveal, Sony will announce when people can begin pre-ordering their new console. Of course, as of this writing, neither company has revealed the price of their next-gen console.
With the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X coming this holiday season, some think that Sony deciding to skip E3 is a bad move, as Microsoft, more than likely, will attend the event and give more information about their upcoming console.
