Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced that for the second year in a row PlayStation will be absent from the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 2020.
“We do not feel the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year,” the company said in a prepared statement. Instead, Sony will focus on participating in consumer events, large and small, around the globe. It wants to ensure that fans everywhere feel included and have access to the content that SIE wants to share with them. The company stated that it “continues to look for inventive opportunities to engage the community.”
This speaks to the criticism about the E3 conference that has arisen in recent years. E3 used to be an industry insider event that served not only as a networking venue but as a way for companies in the gaming industry to efficiently share their news with various media outlets. Even then, it was a crowded affair, because developers and publishers would save their biggest announcements specifically for E3.
In 2017, the Entertainment Software Association, which organizes the expo every year, decided to change the face of the event by opening it up to the public. This added an influx of tens of thousands of bodies which, according to some, clogged up the system not only due to the sheer amount of time required to move from one location to another but because companies were no longer solely disseminating their info to those who would use it most effectively, i.e. the media. This has led to an ongoing conflict about whether the conference should return to being solely for industry insiders or remain a fan event accessible to all.
In the past, E3 was the platform of choice for PlayStation to share big reveals about upcoming consoles and games. Since the conference began in 1995, Sony held a place of prominence among the presenters and benefited greatly from it. The company’s presence at E3 2013 is regarded as a pivotal moment in the growing excitement for the then upcoming PS4 that helped Sony surpass Microsoft in the console wars of this generation.
Sony is not the only exhibitor to eschew E3 in recent years. EA was markedly absent in 2019, and even Nintendo stopped holding traditional press conferences and opted instead to stream its announcements. In addition to the now overwhelming size of the event, it costs millions of dollars to put on an exclusive show, and this investment doesn’t always lead to desired results. Both Sony and Nintendo have stated in the past that they no longer feel that E3 is as useful or relevant as it once was, especially with the growth of other conferences around the world like Tokyo Game Show, Gamescom, GDC, and of course Sony’s own PlayStation Experience.
As of yet, there is no confirmation about whether PSX will finally return after its two-year absence or if Sony will cancel it again in 2020. However, PlayStation 5 is expected to release this holiday season and Sony will undoubtedly be eager to share information and build as much hype as possible about the new console. So far, the company has used other venues to reveal info, such as CES 2020, and that may be the company’s strategy for the coming year.
Sony recently announced an Experience PlayStation event that will take place at Sony Square NYC from January 14 through February 16. Advertised as a chance to play a collection of PS4 and PS VR titles, some are hopeful that this could lead to additional reveals about the PS5.
E3 2020 will take place from June 9 to 11, 2020.
Source: gamesindustry.biz