Sony is Skipping E3 2020, Xbox Will Attend

For the second year in the row, Sony will be skipping E3. While there have been rumors circulating about whether Sony will have a presence at the 2020 trade show, the company has now confirmed that it will not be in attendance.

Speaking to GamesIndustry, a Sony Interactive Entertainment spokesperson explained that it does not feel E3 is the right event for the things it has planned for 2020. “We have great respect for the ESA as an organization,” said the SIE spokesperson, “but we do not feel the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year.”

Sony’s decision to skip the event might seem odd, given that PlayStation 5 is launching holiday 2020 and E3 could have been the event to showcase specs, launch price, and simply build hype for the new console and a new generation of console gaming. That being said, it’s no secret that excitement surrounding E3 has been dying in recent years, with companies opting not to have conferences or booths on the show floor, and just the general enthusiasm for some of the revealed games have been lacking. While Sony chooses not to attend E3, the company promises it will be at “hundreds of consumer events [this year] to showcase upcoming games for PS4 and PS5.”

The spokesperson also continued saying, “We will build upon our global events strategy in 2020 by participating in hundreds of consumer events across the globe. We have a fantastic lineup 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.”

Sony might be skipping E3 this year, but Xbox is all in. Not long after Sony’s announcement, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer confirmed that Xbox will be at the show and that the Xbox team is already hard at work on the event.

In a follow up Tweet, Spencer also explained that the “fans are an amazing part of E3 every year…respecting and talking with the fans is such a special part of the show each year.”