Sony has confirmed that we were suspecting: the company will continue to keep a distance.

„After a thorough evaluation, Sony Interactive Entertainment has decided not to participate in E3 2020. We have great respect for the ESA as an organization [they are behind E3 – the ed.], but we do not feel the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year. We will build upon our global events strategy in 2020 by participating in hundreds of consumer events across the globe. Our focus is on making sure fans feel part of the PlayStation family and have access to play their favourite content. We have a fantastic line up 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,” a Sony Interactive Entertainment (shortened to SIE onwards) representative told Gamesindustry.

Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox, took the opportunity to tweet as a response to Sony’s no-show: „Our team is hard at work on E3, we look forward to sharing with all who love to play what’s ahead for us. Our artform has consistently been propelled by the cross-section of creativity and technical progress. 2020 is a milestone year in that journey for Team Xbox.” He confirmed that Microsoft will once again be out at Los Angeles.

But let’s get back to Sony quickly – one of the hundreds of consumer events might have been found on their website – in New York, at the Sony Square, between January 14 and February 16 (that is not a typo: they do plan to be out there for a month), between 12 and 7 PM Eastern, they will hold Experience PlayStation, which seems to be an extension of December’s 25 Years of Play celebrations, meaning Sony will continue to celebrate its history. However, it doesn’t mean the PlayStation 5 might be revealed here, though…

Three people have been caught lurking around San Francisco – namely Hermen Hulst (the new head of SIE Worldwide Studios), Andrew Goldfarb (Sucker Punch – their PS4-exclusive Ghost of Tsushima is out this summer), and Shuhei Yoshida (Hulst’s predecessor; he is now the link between Sony and indie developers), and for a good reason. We can see a video here by Hulst, showing the San Francisco Bay Area from the air, and this image shows Goldfarb and Yoshida attending a dinner. Why are they in California? Sony might showcase the PlayStation 5 in San Francisco instead of New York (the rumours until now mentioned the Big Apple for the event location in February). SIE’s headquarters are in San Mateo, about 20 miles south from San Francisco… so something might be happening if Hulst and Yoshida are in the region.

The PlayStation 5 will launch in this Holiday season. Rumours mentioned either an early December or a November 20 launch, with Gran Turismo 7 as one of the launch titles. But all this is unofficial.

Source: Gematsu, WCCFTech, PSL, PSU

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