Sony has been, perhaps, the biggest centerpiece of E3 over the last few years. With their mic drop-worthy price announcement at E3 2013 in the face of Microsoft, and even the bizarre experience of last year, the company has always manifested massive chatter around their presence.
That is changing for 2019.
The company has announced that it will be skipping the biggest gaming show on the planet (mindshare-wise) for the coming year. In a statement to Game Informer (and later, other outlets) the console-maker reiterated that it was re-evaluating how to best serve fans for the coming year.
“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 and can’t wait to share our plans with you.”
This comes after it decided not to hold PSX, it’s annual celebration and mini-conference, for 2018. However, there are a few tantalizing bullet points worth noting.
Rumors are floating that a new PlayStation console could come as early as 2020. Microsoft revealed at E3 2018 this past year that it was working on a new device, and the PS4 Pro just passed two years old. A new console in 2020 would give the PS4 a solid 7 years on the market before a successor, something that the PS3 also experienced. Now, skipping E3 2019 is a bummer, but that doesn’t mean Sony won’t hold its own event prior to that or afterward. Announcing a new console and launching it doesn’t have to happen in the same year. Nintendo announced the Switch in October of 2016 and launched in March of the following year. Sony could theoretically do the same. But when? Well, its fiscal year ends on March 31, 2019. Shareholders will want to know what the company will do next. They may have a PS5 announcement around that time, or, more likely, they might announce a date for a full reveal event. Either way, it seems clear that Sony doesn’t want to share E3 eyeballs next year with Microsoft and Nintendo to reveal a new product that could get caught up with details of new Halo, Pokemon and Metroid games.
We don’t know. Whatever happens next, Sony not being at the big show is a blow to fans and attendees, but perhaps a better business move.
Source: Game Informer
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