Home » News » Salon: Sony plants a second nail in the coffin of E3 – High-Tech

Salon: Sony plants a second nail in the coffin of E3 – High-Tech

Thunderbolt at the start of the week in the video game industry. On Monday, the GamesIndustry.biz site revealed that the PlayStation, the Sony game console that outrageously dominates the market. gaming, would not participate for the second year in a row at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 for friends) in Los Angeles.

It’s not a rumor, it’s official. The spokesperson for Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) declares in a surge that smells like the language of corporate wood: “After a deep reflection, SIE decided not to participate in the 2020 edition of E3. Despite all the respect that we have for ESA (the organizers of the show, note) as an organization, we do not believe that the 2020 guidelines of E3 make it the place suited to our objectives this year. ”

The scale of the earthquake

To understand the magnitude of the earthquake you should know that the PlayStation weighs very heavy – and even more (as much as the Switch and the Xbox combined) – while this show, which was for a long time the only one to have an impact of worldwide, has been weakened for a few years.

Whether you are a creator, entrepreneur, trader or journalist, E3 was the essential place of annual pilgrimage to show, show yourself, stand out and prosper. But times have changed and the show has struggled for years to want to satisfy partners who have divergent views on its future, notes GamesIndustry.biz: there would be those who want to see it turn into a celebration of video games while others want E3 to remain a professional place to exhibit, communicate and do business. And to note that ESA’s recent attempts to marry carp with rabbit have had only very relative success.

Empty shell

Without Sony therefore, the E3 is a bit more of an empty shell than it was already going to become before. For a long time, each publisher / manufacturer has organized media shows in its corner that open the June festivities. In addition, large fish, such as Electronic Arts or Activision, have preferred to display their family jewelry outside the show for several years rather than committing the tens of millions of dollars needed to play in the big leagues. Even Microsoft, which officially remains a loyal supporter of E3, neglects the thick carpet laid by ESA in the Convention Center in favor of the neighboring Microsoft Theater.

And in 2019, E3 no longer managed to create an illusion. No PlayStation, fewer exhibitors, less media, the Convention Center spans a little deserted during professional days.

How in this case to hope to find success, by opening up a little more to the general public and to “influencers”, as ESA wishes for 2020, if the main players in the industry now prefer to take matters into their own hands ?

Rupture and killing

In 2019, we could understand that Sony wanted to save a presence in Los Angeles: the PS4 was entering its third age, the publisher did not have big playful cartridges to promote (it kept ammunition for the final kiss in 2020), his absence notice was understandable and simply explainable. But for the 2020 edition, the year of the release of PlayStation 5, the scenario is quite different. It is no longer a postponed meeting, it is a break that takes on the appearance of killing.

Jean-Charles Canet

Created: 15.01.2020, 18h59

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