For the first time in the event’s history, E3 2019 will not feature Sony or PlayStation. The massive event almost always features a lengthy press conference from Sony, often after all other major companies give theirs. Both Nintendo and Microsoft, Sony’s main competitors, will be attending the show.
The massive gaming convention E3 — the Electronic Entertainment Expo — has changed quite a bit over the years, but one constant has been Sony and the PlayStation brand. Typically, the PlayStation conference is the last of the entire event, but in 2019, we won’t be seeing Sony at all.
Speaking to Game Informer, Sony explained that it would not be attending E3, with its focus on looking for “inventive opportunities to engage the community.”
“PlayStation fans mean the world to us and we always want to innovate, think differently and experiment with new ways to delight gamers,” Sony continued. “As a result, we have decided not to participate in E3 in 2019.”
This isn’t the first time Sony has changed its event plans recently — or at least not done as fans expected. There is no PlayStation Experience event in 2018 after it was held the last several years, primarily because Sony has released many of its announced PS4 games already. Still on the horizon are Dreams, Death Stranding, The Last of Us: Part II, Days Gone, and Ghost of Tsushima, but Days Gone is due out before E3 and it’s possible one or two others could follow suit.
In recent years, a few other companies have either pulled back from doing full E3 press conferences or have dropped the event entirely. Nintendo now hosts prerecorded Nintendo Direct events, and EA runs its own EA Play event just prior to E3.
Should Microsoft choose to announce the next Xbox console before Sony does, E3 certainly seems like the perfect time to do it now. Phil Spencer hinted at this past E3 that his teams were working on new hardware, though it seems unlikely it would release in 2019. We’ve also heard several rumors regarding the PlayStation 5, or whatever it ends up being called.
When Sony does announce its next console, it might be the last time the company does so. According to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, the industry will only have one more console generation before moving to streaming-only devices. Still, with the PS4 selling as well as it has, we aren’t so sure consoles are dying just yet.
