The Truth About Sony Not Attending E3 in 2019
E3, the world’s biggest video game event will be missing one of their most anticipated conferences. For the first time in 24 years, Sony Interactive Entertainment will not be attending E3.
Traditionally, Sony holds their PlayStation event the Monday before E3 begins. This event draws in thousands of fans and usually takes up acres of space in the LA convention center. In 2018, Sony even had spectators move between event rooms to create an immersive experience. However, this approach was met with controversy as Sony had four key titles for their conference. The company confirmed they would not be attending in a statement from Variety:
“As the industry evolves, Sony Interactive Entertainment continues to look for inventive opportunities to engage the community,” according to the statement. “PlayStation fans mean the world to us, and we always want to innovate, think differently and experiment with new ways to delight gamers. As a result, we have decided not to participate in E3 in 2019. We are exploring new and familiar ways to engage our community in 2019.”
Not Just E3
E3 is not the only major event that Sony has canceled in recent months. In September, the chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, Shawn Layden, stated that the company would not host the PlayStation Experience for 2019. Layden claimed that there are not enough games to showcase.
“Now that we have ‘Spiderman’ out the door, we’re looking down in 2019 to games like ‘Dreams’ and ‘Days Gone’ but we wouldn’t have enough to bring people altogether in some location in North America to have that event,” Layden stated ”We don’t want to set expectations really high and then not deliver on it.”
The lineup of games that are expected to come out in 2019 are the same games that were showcased in the 2018 Sony conference. Titles such as The Last of Us Part II, Death Stranding and Ghost of Tsushima were part of the event and they do not have a release date, so fans can expect them in 2019.
Looking Towards The Future
This news brings into question whether fans should look forward to the new generation of consoles. It has been five years since the release of the PlayStation 4 that took the video game world by storm. Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida confirmed that it was time to transcend into the next generation.
“At this point, what I can say is it’s necessary to have a [sic] next-generation hardware,” Yoshida stated.
Sony could be taking the time to work on the PlayStation 5, and fans will have to wait and see what the new generation will bring to the world of gaming. With that said, we are huge Sony fans and we're very appreciative of their efforts to innovate and we look forward for what's to come.
