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Sony to skip E3 for the second year in a row, despite PS5’s impending launch

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E3 just isn’t the all-encompassing gaming convention it used to be, as it appears Sony is no longer interested in attending the event. PlayStation will be absent from E3 2020 after skipping last year’s convention as well, despite the upcoming launch of the PlayStation 5 and several highly anticipated games.

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Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Sony shared that it didn’t feel E3 2020 would be “the right venue for what [it is] focused on this year.”

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It appears a monthlong Experience PlayStation event could be partially taking the place of any E3 presentation, and it’s rumored to begin January 14. Typically, Sony has unveiled its consoles fully in February, and we anticipate this also being the case with the PS5.

PlayStation will likely be the only first-party game company to not attend E3 2020, as it appears Microsoft will be holding its own press conference in keeping with its traditions. Nintendo no longer holds a standard press conference in a live setting, but its Nintendo Direct presentations have become the norm since 2013, and are generally one of the highlights of each year’s convention.

The Entertainment Software Association, which caught flak several months ago after accidentally exposing thousands of E3 attendees’ personal data to the public, has issued its own statement on Sony’s choice.

“E3 is a signature event celebrating the video game industry and showcasing the people, brands, and innovations redefining entertainment loved by billions of people around the world,” the statement said. “E3 2020 will be an exciting, high-energy show featuring new experiences, partners, exhibitor spaces, activations, and programming that will entertain new and veteran attendees alike.”

With the show now open to the paying public alongside the press, E3 2020 will certainly need a little extra pizzazz to keep generating interest.

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Sony’s absence last year was the first time since E3 began that the company did not attend. Recently, Electronic Arts has elected to hold a separate event just before the start of E3. Major publishers such as Bethesda and Ubisoft have stuck by their standard press conference formula, albeit with a focus more on demonstrations and gameplay than the theatrics we’ve seen in the past.

E3 2020 will be held in Los Angeles from June 9 through June 11.

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Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
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