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Sony and PlayStation will skip E3 for the second straight year

Hope you weren't expecting PlayStation at E3, because Sony is skipping the trade show for the second straight year.

Ozzie Mejia

January 13, 2020 3:45 PM

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PlayStation missed out on E3 2019 and, by all indications, the sky did not fall and the world continued to go round. Having realized this, Sony has decided that it would skip the annual gaming convention a second time. On Monday, Sony Interactive Entertainment confirmed that it would not take part in E3 2020, marking the second straight year that the PlayStation arm has opted to skip the show in favor of different marketing options.

"After thorough evaluation SIE has decided not to participate in E3 2020," a Sony Interactive Entertainment spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz. "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 originally opted to skip E3 2019 back in November 2018, which was the first time in 24 years that PlayStation would not be a part of the festivities. It was considered a seismic announcement at the time, given that rumors were starting to swirl about the upcoming PlayStation 5. Those rumors have only intensified, so much so that the gaming world buzzed over a logo at last week's Consumer Electronics Show. But despite that, Sony once again feels that it can do its own heavy lifting without the help of the Entertainment Software Association.

"We will build upon our global events strategy in 2020 by participating in hundreds of consumer events across the globe," the SIE rep added. "Our focus is on making sure fans feel part of the PlayStation family and have access to play their favorite content. We have a fantastic line up of titles coming to PlayStation 4, and with the upcoming launch of PlayStation 5, we are truly looking forward to a year of celebration with our fans."

Ghost of Tsushima, Dreams, and The Last of Us Part 2 are the last of the major first-party exclusives for PlayStation 4 that are set to release in 2020, with the latter two games hitting before E3. From there, it's expected that the PlayStation 5 push will begin in earnest, but don't look for the hype train to hit the Los Angeles Convention Center.

As for what events PlayStation will take a part of, that remains to be seen. Keep it on Shacknews as we continue to follow this story.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?