In a surprise move that certainly rocked the gaming industry, Sony has announced that they’ll be skipping E3 2019. And there won’t be a separate thing as with Microsoft did this year or as with EA Play. No, they’re skipping E3 altogether. Wow.
Variety Gaming’s Bryan Crecente has the story with a statement from Sony, including details surrounding this bombshell announcement.
Though what actually set off this chain of events was the ESA’s press release regarding next year’s E3. Stats were given and quotes were shared, telling us how successful E3 2018 was. And near the end of the presser, there was a list of the leading game companies who were committed to participating. Nintendo of America, Microsoft/Xbox, and the other usual suspects were mentioned, but curiously absent was Sony.
I’ll echo Jason Schreier and add my name to the growing list of people who believe this is all leading up to the eventual announcement (probably at next year’s PSX) of Sony’s next console: the PlayStation 5.
If I had known it was that easy to opt out of E3, I would have done it a long time ago
— Mike Mahardy (@mmahardy) November 15, 2018
In case you missed the screaming/hypothesizing on Kinda Funny Games Daily, PlayStation skipping #E32019 has blown my mind. It's bold, confident, and crazy. I think it means they're going to do their own event after E3 and come with megaton after megaton culminating in PS5. pic.twitter.com/OqQQJ7PQSB
— Greg Miller (@GameOverGreggy) November 15, 2018
— Nick Verge (@NicolasVerge) November 16, 2018
At this point in the current console generation, the PS4 is on top – by a lot. Heck, today marks the 5th anniversary of said console and the stats they shared sure back up how they can make such a bold move with this much confidence.
And I can’t say it’s a bad move. Of course, if they really have nothing to show, and they come back to whatever the next conference is and go back to church or do what amounted to a roundtable event a la PSX 2017, they will have built up a lot of anticipation over the wrong thing.
I do think it’s a bummer, however, that we won’t get the Big Three together in some capacity. What felt like a yearly tradition where all gamers gathered has now been gutted for a wallop of whatever comes next.
But is it all doom and gloom for E3 2019? Well, no. The other big names will still be there and now there’s even more room for the growing Indie scene. And for us (amateur) press it’ll sure be a lot easier to take stock of all the announcements and have more time to take in the sights and sounds. This isn’t the end, just a strange new beginning.
What's your reaction?
