Sony is skipping E3 2021

Dear PlayStation fans

This is disappointing news for you guys and that's Sony's third year skipping in a row, they also explained why they do that? because they were looking for other "inventive opportunities" while trying to connect with their own community.

Why Sony Is Skipping E3 2021 - GameSpot

Oh well, I hope they will host their own digital event by this year, or either they might return by next year.

On a side note: I want Sony Interactive Entertainment to bring the MotorStorm and WipEout series back.

They've basically adopted the Nintendo Direct approach with their State of Play streams. And really, with E3 being all digital what does "skipping E3" even really mean? They'll still have some kind of stream, it not being officially associated with E3 means nothing. Even before Covid, in this era where publishers just do their own streams, E3 barely matters. It can not exist and very little will change.

It remains to be seen how significant E3 even can be in its current form. When a big developer/publisher can post a pre-recorded video on YouTube whenever they want, why should they tie themselves to E3 and compete for attention during a single crowded week?

Even if it hadn't been confirmed directly, it may as well have been the moment E3 2021's first wave of partners was announced with Sony's name not among them. Considering they skipped 2019 as well, and clearly were going to skip 2020 if the ESA hadn't done it for them, not much reason for them to come back all of a sudden.

I'm still not sure I'm ready to write off E3 as a concept though. While it's true that major players like Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo can generate audiences all their own, I feel like the other press conferences benefit from the more compact system. I've certainly watched my fair share of EA/Ubisoft conferences simply because "I'm watching the other E3 conferences, might as well watch these ones too".

E3 has been irrelevant for a long time. I'm only looking forward to the MS and Nintendo conference.

Sony is as cocky as they were at the end of the PS2 era. They think they're too good for "common" events. I personally don't care what they do one way or the other. Good games will garner interest wherever they're shown.

I hope Microsoft and Nintendo both will be good for this year's E3.

To me, they shouldn't become arrogant since 2020 plus PS5's first parties also shouldn't be $70 USD IMO (Making customers refusing to buy them, but if it's a game they really want it then they must deal with it).

@ll_exile_ll: But Nintendo usually does a special “E3 Direct”. I don’t remember Sony doing that when they skipped E3.

@gtxforza: Sony's cockiness and arrogance has always lead to higher prices. The best way to make big time corporations like Sony listen is to not buy their products. They only understand money.

Sony being cocky and probably has nothing to show.

Last year without E3 even happening, Sony did their huge PS5 stream in the first week of June. They also just did a lengthy demo presentation of Horizon Forbidden West this past week. I think it's pretty safe to say that would have been done at E3 if they were attending.

We'll probably see a similar stream for Ratchet at some point soon as well. Whether it be individual game State of Plays like that or ones that have a multiple things to show or announce, they'll get that stuff out there one way or another. It just may not all be done in one 90 minute press conference.

Should have known this since Sony host that 17 minutes long Horizon demo this close to the end of May....

Not to mention the Death Stranding release date announcement late May, 2019.

@zinkn: @mechashadow84:

Yeah, Jim Ryan is the real problem why Sony is arrogant, just like Jack Tretton (This former CEO from the PS3 era, he mocked on non-Sony developed and distributed consoles).

Edit: Not to mention that Jim Ryan doesn't even care about retro gaming in general.

Let's hope that SIE will reduce their PS5's first-party games prices from $70 USD to $60 USD by next year.

And??? E3 is an irrelevant dinosaur of a bygone era in the industry.

@gtxforza: Not a chance in hell, sadly. If they chose to increase the price in the first place I don't see them dropping it until at least the end of the generation, especially considering they seem to have done fine with it so far if Demon's Souls and TLoU2 are any indication.

@franzlska: Okay, we'll find out when the time flies.

Conventions are expensive, and doing online press events is cheaper, so I don't see a problem with Sony skipping another year of E3.

Ok, I see.

Not really sure where the "cockiness" or "arrogance" argument is coming from with regards to this announcement. As mentioned elsewhere, Sony skipped E3 2019, too. They don't feel like they need it... prove them wrong, I guess, but this will be the third year (technically second, I suppose, since 2020 hardly counts) and their popularity doesn't seem to have fallen into a gorge by any means.

This barely even registers as industry news at this point. Sony skipped the last physical E3 two years ago. They put out their own streams/video about the PS5 instead of announcing at E3 (just like they did for the PS4). This doesn't mean anything. It's not indicative of anything. The type of person who is plugged into this hobby enough to know that Sony won't be at E3 is also the type of person who is plugged in enough to know when and where to find Sony's own press conference or stream when Sony announces it.

It's not cockiness. Not when both the big hitters are being hit by supply constraints. Why build a hype train when there's no station to call into? Why anticipate a new release when you know the limited units sold will hamper any projections they might make?

I don't mind them skipping E3, who cares about E3, BUT... it were fun times having the big ones all doing their news basically back-to-back within a few days time.

You could compare the presentations to one another and say who did what better. With MS, Sony and Nintendo now going months apart, they are just single events of a single company not tied to anything and that's why you don't even think about comparing them. Which makes it less fun for me... though I assume it also spawns less toxicity this way.

To me, the idea of a company winning or losing E3 was just another extension of the juvenile console war garbage. I think critiquing a presentation is totally valid and worthwhile, but pitting them against each other and declaring a winner just fed into the console war nonsense and didn't provide any value.

The more ways we can get rid of the toxic fanaticism of the console war mindset, the better video game fandom will be.

I'm not surprised by this. While I always liked E3 because of it being a huge video game convention like Can Jam is for audio and many others I can name, the internet and the popularity of social media has changed the game in many ways. Even if a pandemic didn't happen, E3 would've had to go internet streaming if they wanted to stay relevant. A lot of people these days prefer to stay home, not just because the pandemic has made this a habit, but also because of the many tragic public shootings that's been happening over the years. A lot of people these days are not in their right frame of mind.

As far as Sony, their State of Play feature, which includes their own live streaming event has gotten positive feed back over the years. They get a lot of views when they go live and a lot of clicks when they post the revealing stuff on their Youtube channel. They honestly don't need E3 to get the word out to their fans and gaming media about future games and products. I would've liked to see them at E3 with many other developers, but I'm not surprised. Like Nintendo, they already know their audience. I just hope this doesn't become a pattern with other developers, right before E3 starts and they end up cancelling it.