Sony has already confirmed that the company will not be attending E3 2019. Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios chairman Shawn Layden explained why that is the case and according to him, E3 has lost its impact. Sony will have its own Destination PlayStation event in February. This is becoming a trend now and companies are starting to have events of their own rather than go to trade shows that make less sense now do to the internet.
He mentioned that June is too late to have a discussion with retailers regarding the Christmas holidays and he might be on to something here. The following is what he had to say regarding the matter:
Now we have an event in February called Destination PlayStation, where we bring all retailers and third-party partners to come hear the story for the year. They’re making purchasing discussions in February. June, now, is just too late to have a Christmas holiday discussion with retailers.
Layden mentioned that E3 has lost its impact over time and E3 has become a trade show without any trade. He claimed that while the world has changed E3 has not evolved and is still the same. He mentioned that the company has decided to go with making lesser but bigger games and with that in mind it is not feasible to show something in June every year as making these games takes time.
He mentioned that people have expectations and want to see something when they come to E3 and that the company does not necessarily have something ready that will need the expectations of the fans. Layden said that E3 will have to change in order to remain impactful.
We are progressing the conversation about, how do we transform E3 to be more relevant? Can E3 transition more into a fan festival of gaming, where we don’t gather there to drop the new bomb? Can’t it just be a celebration of games and have panels where we bring game developers closer to fans?
Not only did he talk about Sony not being at E3 2019, but he also mentioned that the company is not going to release a battle royale game. He mentioned that there are plenty of similar games out there. Apex Legends is the most recent entry and with the new ping system that it offers, it might be hard to compete with. This could be a clever move but we will have to see what the company is working on before we can judge.
We know that Sony is working on the PlayStation 5 right now and that this could be the next chapter in storytelling.
Let us know what you think about all this and why you think Sony is skipping E3 2019.
