Here's some big but not surprising news: Sony is officially skipping E3 for the second year in a row. The Japanese gaming giant confirmed in a statement to Gamesindustry.biz that it will not be attending E3 2020, even with the PS5 slated to launch by the end of the year.
"We have great respect for the ESA as an organization, but we do not feel the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year," a Sony Interactive Entertainment Spokesperson told Gamesindustry.biz.
This is the second year in a row Sony is skipping E3, which takes place every June in Los Angeles and typically sees the reveal of the most anticipated games of the year from multiple publishers.
The move isn't an entirely shocking one -- Sony has long been rumored to host its own PS5 reveal event in February 2020, and a recent 4chan post seems to lend further weight to this speculation. The post in question claims that the Feb. 5 event will see the reveal of the PS5's hardware design, key software features, exclusive games and $499 price, though we have no way of verifying if this information is accurate. Sony did mention to Gamesindustry.biz that it plans to participate in
For what it's worth, Sony first unveiled the PS4 at a special February 2013 press event ahead of the console's November 2013 launch, so there is a slight precedence to this timing.
The PS5 is slated to launch in Holiday 2020, promising features such as 8K and 120Hz support, ray tracing, near instantaneous SSD load times and a new controller with advanced haptics.
That Sony is skipping E3 on the year of such a major launch speaks to the company's changing strategy. It's also indicative of the arguable decline of E3, which has shifted to become more of a fan-oriented event over the years and lost some goodwill after the Electronic Software Association (the company that runs E3) leaked the personal info of more than 2,000 media professionals that attended last year's show.
