When will we learn not to criticise Sony too hastily? Our first reaction to the Japanese giant’s decision to skip E3 2019 was one of horror, but we later took a step back and pointed out that the platform holder couldn’t (and probably shouldn’t) be judged until we see how everything transpires. On the basis of this past weekend, the firm has once again proven that it knows best.
This is a transitional year for the Los Angeles show – we don’t even need to watch Ubisoft and Square Enix’s press conferences to tell you that. EA Play 2019 was such a non-event that we’re beginning to ponder why the publisher even bothers, and despite some neat, presumably next-gen announcements, Bethesda didn’t have much either.
But with Microsoft missing an open goal, it’s pretty obvious why the PlayStation maker decided to skip this year’s show. The fact is there’s just not enough content ready to be announced yet: Xbox had 60 titles on its stage, but without being disrespectful, we bet you’d struggle to name 15 of them off the top of your head. It was filler – even the heavy hitters like Halo Infinite aren’t ready for prime time.
The thing is, Sony could have had a show: Death Stranding, The Last of Us: Part II, Ghost of Tsushima, Final Fantasy VII: Remake, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare would have been enough. But the manufacturer’s been in this game long enough to know that expectations are impossible to calibrate, and after last year’s gameplay-focused showcase, it knows how venomous the backlash can be.
So it announced its next-gen console in a Wired article, sucking almost all of the enthusiasm out of yesterday’s timid Project Scarlett reveal. Oh, and it dropped a breath-taking release date trailer for Death Stranding, which had more impact than anything we’ve seen at E3 2019 so far. This is a company that, despite constant criticism, clearly knows what it’s doing. Maybe it's time we all started to accept that.
How do you feel about Sony's decision to skip E3 2019 in the aftermath of the first few press conferences? Have you changed your opinion at all? Stay at home in the comments section below.
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Comments 67
As I was watching ms press conference and bethesda, and seeing a ton of multiplatform games, the awkward jokes, nothing I deem as special....I started to think, Sony made the right decision to not even show up. None of the news shared was big news imo.
e3 next year is gonna be fire though.
ps5 reveal,launch games with possibly HZD2 leading the lineup,if everything goes right than sony can win the show again.
If this year's E3 has demonstrated anything, it's the fundamental irrelevance of E3.
Apologies to fans who're currently enjoying it, or for those who've been excited by the gameplay demonstrations or new sneak peeks, but there have been few (if any) surprises and nothing that couldn't have been handled by a livestream or a well-timed trailer release (thusfar, at least... it ain't over yet).
But I applaud Sony for noticing the semi-obvious writing on the large, expensive wall and being bold about their choice to try and change gaming for the better.
Let E3 die. Long live the livestreams.
A lot of people are expecting Sony to put a foot wrong at the moment and mess up somehow. After losing ground to the 360 last generation, it seems many assume Sony will repeat arrogant mistakes of the past.
I give them the benefit of the doubt though, I can't see any evidence that they haven't learnt a lot. Just because they're confident and doing really well again, doesn't mean they're primed for a fall. I think they know what they're doing.
I have to agree, i was sceptical but it looks a good decision by sony
And oh how they scoffed!
@LieutenantFatman with sony it seems that people only remember the bad things they did.
can't wait to see the backlash when the ps5 turns out to be 50 dollars more expensive than skarlet...
If the leaks showed anything, its that a show of this size with this many moving parts cant surprise anyone anymore. the biggest showing was Cyberpunk 2077 and that's a multi-platform game. Nintendo was right many years ago to do a in house, controlled showcase of upcoming games. No cringe, less leaks, and bigger impact. E3 has been losing its appeal for many years, its just not the same show that it was.
Alot of people are saying Microsoft were sensible to get in front of their home crowd (the USA) and shout their wares. But the thing is, they NEED to. They messed up this gen so they need the good will.
Sony have made mistakes over the past year, but i think theyv'e earned the goodwill they have had this gen. I hope its enough to maintain their success into next gen.
I do think the race will be closer next time. Microsoft wont make the same mistakes, and they are building up a decent stable of first party studios (although im not a fan of what they are doing) to make games for them this time around.
@Rob_230 Spot on, Sony's pretty much the only big publisher that can afford to take its time at this point. Microsoft had little choice but to try and go big at E3 in an attempt to win back some kind of momentum — something it's been doing for the entirety of this generation.
Sony's been in the driving seat for years now and it's clearly happy to sit back and slowly but surely reveal its plans for the PS5.
To be brutally honest, Sony's absence at E3 this year almost feels like it's got everyone else scrambling. That's the kind of influence it has over the console market at this point in time.
If all Sony has to show, at least is willing to show at this point in the current generations life cycle, is Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima and Last of Us 2 - with the usual 3rd Party games like CoD, Destiny etc, then its not worth them being here - can almost show last years E3 in its place - with the same 'vague' next gen specs MS spouted too.
For a 'year' before the next gen launches, its not been a 'bad E3', not when you consider that both EA and Bethesda's stock has somewhat fallen in the last year or so thanks to numerous factors and mediocre game launches. MS still managed to show off 60 new games, and over 3/4's of them will be playable by all.
As a Sony fanboy, seeing the 'few' Exclusives that have yet to release for yet another E3 may well be 'great' but for the rest of the world and the press may not be too easily pleased so its perhaps a wise decision to keep away, make any announcements on their own terms and when they are 'ready' too.
Its no secret that E3 is also losing its purpose with Publishers and Developers using Social media to make announcements, interact with fans over twitch/youtube, show more in depth looks at their game than their 'few' minutes on stages will permit etc.One of the complaints about MS's was the lack of actual 'game-play' but when you only have a few minutes, not enough time to really show anything in 'real time', its better to try and get across what the game is, what the 'world' it takes place in is like and an indication of its genre in a 2min teaser trailer using CGi, cinematic camera views of the game-play (which may look CGi) etc all put together to get the 'gist' of the game, its story, its characters and the type of game you can expect. What is 2mins of 'game-play' actually going to show?
Lets be honest and fair here, Death Stranding, Last of Us 2 and many other games were revealed with just a CGi teaser trailer too...
Sony won without even showing up, it's embarrassing from Microsoft.
@RogerRoger It'll be interesting to see if this is just an off-year of if the writing really is on the wall for E3 now.
@swagbag713 I agree with you. I think it was just the pacing issues that mucked it up for them last year. The gameplay demos were stunning, like you say.
@BAMozzy Tbh MS were better off showing 30 games with actual gameplay, the conference was too bloated with games that people will forget about very quickly.
@swagbag713 the main point of critique for me was the moving around different rooms but that was it.
all the rest was great. we finally got gameplay for games that everybody wanted gameplay off,some suprise reveals like resi 2 and nioh 2.
but yeah the people that say that the games shown was underwhelming,i disagree with them. but than again you have people hating the TLOU2 gameplay because 2 women kissing eachother ... did they even play left behind?
Ea mainly gave updates and showed off a lackluster part of its Star Wars game.
Microsoft showed off way too many cinematic trailers and hardly any were exclusives. Keanu being there will be the highlight but its a games convention. The games should steal the show
Bethesda at least gave us a Doom Eternal date but they should have had a livestream tbh.
At a guess Ubisoft will have Watch Dogs 3, Skull and Bones, Ghost Recon, and Rainbow Seige.
SE will confirm if ff7 is still eposidic and show off Just Cause 4 and KH3 dlc
Devolver will be awesome.
Honestly Sony made the right call and the money they saved can go towards revealing a TLOU2 release date in the next livestream
It's cool, Sony just being chill.
@Danloaded That's a great point. "What was the highlight of the games show?" "Oh, a Hollywood actor showed up."
Kinda feels like somebody going to the cinema to see whatever's showing that day, just because they really like popcorn and those giant bucket drinks.
Gotta give it to everyone that sided with Sony on this one. They were right. Also the PS5 announcement...I know see it clearly
When your next system is looming, do what Nintendo did in 2016, or Sony this year. Dont drag out the known quantities and whats left for your system. Just highlight it, be smaller, dont end up repeating yourself.
2019 really is going to be Nintendo's year, if only because all the truly new stuff is there and can be shown. All the other new stuff isnt until 2020 for the other two.
I don't think E3 is irrelevant, it's just not what it used to be. E3 used to be the most looked forward gaming event of the year, big news and all, but with the innovation of the Internet, you can have an E3 without booking a single venue.
It's a tough pill to swallow, I know.
yeah pushsquare is the #1 critic of sony, next time shut ur mouth and wait for greatness
@Danloaded or PSX this year???? Sony Pls.
@LieutenantFatman
They are still making the same mistakes, I still don't have an Ape Escape 4.
@Cutmastavictory I agree completely.
Yea very smart move. I was really hoping Xbox was gonna remove the bad taste that has been the X1. Didnt happen. Not even acknowledging Fable reboot was a mistake. I dont understand their philosphy behind Gears anymore, still no Halo gameplay. Outer Worlds is gonna be awesome (on my PS4 though) and Ori looks amazing. Other than that WTH is MS doing?
I was thinking the opposite watching Microsoft's conference, there were loads of good games shown off, details on the new console (I really think a big stage is best to announce such things and not a miss-able article), another studio acquisition, Keanu Reeves...
Sony on the other hand being completely absent doesn't look great : / Can't blame them though, they'd just have shown off the exact same games that were at E3 last year minus Days Gone, which wouldn't have gone down well.
@AdamNovice Personally, I agree with you but MS's E3's have been about quantity with not much 'quality time' (not saying the games aren't Quality - just that the time devoted to each isn't) given to each game. In the last couple of years. no one has shown more games at E3 in their time-slot than Microsoft. I wouldn't be surprised if MS have shown as many games as all the other big publishers combined.
I freely admit I would prefer Sony's approach of showing just a handful of games but giving each game a chance to show off more of the game. You get to see a bit of the environment, the game-play loop and the character you play rather than a mix of very short clips that fly by so fast as they try to make a game look 'flashy' without actually telling you anything about the game and before any of that sinks in, you are straight into the next, struggling to remember what you have actually seen.
In part I was playing a bit of Devils Advocate to the article. As I said, I would prefer to see more quality time given to each game but I don't really want to see the same games I saw last year (and the year(s) before) with just a different slice of that game-play either.
You could argue that MS has taken advantage of the lack of a Sony presser with them showing more games than they have ever shown at E3 compared to Sony who are showing 'none'. Its like saying we can show 60 and how many are you here to show? They also had time to say our next Console is coming, that it certainly seems to be as specced out as the PS5 offering very similar options, and then actually announced when that console should be expected.
They also got to announce that their collection of Studio's is growing to meet the demands for first party content. All this without mentioning the rumoured 'Fable' return and the expected Forza Motorsport which should be due this September if MS are keeping to schedule.
Even if you aren't a fan of the Xbox console, a PC gamer, Xbox Pass is looking a great deal - All the games that are in Xbox Pass and coming to Xbox Pass for just a monthly fee that allows you to download and play for no additional cost - brand new releases you can play on day 1. Then there is xCloud too which launches later this year enabling you to play Xbox anywhere and anytime too - if you have an Xbox account and compatible device.
I know that if you aren't an Xbox gamer, not interested at all in the numerous 1st party games or the potential of those numerous new studio's, only the 76.66% of the short game clips actually mattered from MS's showcase - that's 46 out of 60 games (some of which will be on Xbox first btw - even if they do come to PS4/5 later) - that's 46 games, many of which were world premieres, that 'gamers' (regardless of platform) will get to enjoy, will get to play on their Platform of choice - that's more games than Sony will be showing (more games than Sony have showed each year for a long time) and more than most publishers will show this year combined. 46 new games for ALL gamers to play!!
@jdv95 if it's worth the price the difference is irrelevant. MS screwed up because the price was high because of ba piece of tech nobody wanted
@get2sammyb "The thing is, Sony could have had a show: Death Stranding, The Last of Us: Part II, Ghost of Tsushima, Final Fantasy VII: Remake, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare would have been enough."
You left out Concrete Genie again. And some day Dreams will release the story content as part of a full game.
I'm fine with Sony missing E3, and it's easy to say they were right in not coming. But, for all we know HAD they come they would have won E3 and you'd be talking about how great there show was compared to everyone else. Wouldn't be hard. That's the thing about "what's if", you can't know b/c you only ever get to see 1 side. Had they known they were coming they would have held off on the Death stranding release date and the Concrete Genie trailer from March.
So I'd say it's less they made the right decision not to come and more that having decided nto to come to E3 they made the most of other options available to them. They could have come. They could have won. But it would have cost them a whole lot more money. I think it's about the money as much as the losing battle with perception on social media.
I'm ok with this mea culpa article, you did throw them under the bus but it's turned out just fine. Just saying it COULD have turned out just fine had they attended as well.
@Nyne11Tyme we know that.
but we also know that it will always be a point of critique for some.even though it isn't one.
While I agree that E3's relevance is in decline and this year's so far has questioned whether it's worth bothering with I feel next years (assuming Sony come back) will be much better. With lots of next gen games to show and consoles to fully reveal it could be epic.
The biggest thing for me is managing to keep stuff secret so you get the surprise of seeing something you weren't expecting.
Yeah games companies can reveal anytime but there is something special about getting several new games revealed in the space of a few days so I hope E3 can evolve and remain relevant.
MS was all over the place as they have xcloud and then scarlett and then the xbox current gen. Just seems they didn't focus on the scarlett with the xcloud. I thought the presentation was meh at best! Sony was smart to skip an E3 press conference. If you look at Nintendo they do an hour long direct that people can watch at their leisure! So much gets leaked I think it's easier for companies to have announcements on their social media pages. It's expensive to reserve a theater to hold a press conference these days! Sony does know what they are doing and I think they will focus on the PS5!
Bethesda had plants in the audience to cheer it was that cringy
Because everyone else is having a poor show doesnt mean Sony would have. Whilst the shows are usually dull and poorly paced, theres something for all.
I'd agree that the show is unnesscary, Nintendo Direct and State of Play is the way to go!
Sony simply have nothing to prove. Theres too much nonsense in the air around E3 about who won, that the games get lost in the dust.
Let me do Sony's talking for them.
In the next 12 months. On your Playstation 4. You will be able to play:
*Death Stranding (ps4 exclusive)
*The Last of Us 2 (ps4 exclusive)
-Ghost of Tsushima (presumably) (Ps4 exclusive)
-Nioh 2 (presumably ps4 console exclusive)
-Trails of Cold Steel 3 (im making this a big deal - ps4 exclusive)
Medieval (PS4 Exclusive)
And thats before juggernaughts like Cyberpunk 2077, never mind potential good games like Modern Warfare (i am hopeful) and Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order (again i am hopeful), KH 3 dlc
And before all the stuff on the way for PSVR.
So sony SHOULDNT have anything to worry about. They just need to keep communicating clearly and regularly with their audience and stay connected with the fans.
I cant wait! My only question is where do i get the money from!!
This E3 has been decent so far, bearing in mind that we're in the transitional period before all the big games for next gen will be revealed. Seems like people had too unrealistically high expectations.
We know what will be remembered : Sony not being there for the first time...and Keenu Reaves on stage haha
i think ubisoft and square enix will have the best shows this year imo.
Let's wait and see, what Nintendo has to offer tomorrow, before talking about 'a winner'. While Microsoft's presentation has been lackluster, I smell lots of blockbuster games like Bayonetta 3 showing up in Nintendo's direct. It'll be 40 minutes long though. As much as I love Sony, I don't think that they'll match Big Ns show, this E3.
@Lando_ Bayo 3, A link to the past remake, ni no kuni remaster, meteroid, pokemon. Nintendo will do well.
Maybe they tried to hire Keanu but found out he'd already said he'd be on the Xbox conference so Shawn Layden was like oh well might as well not even bother turning up now
Wise
@johncalmc
Or Marvel offered Brie Larson be on PlayStation stage to promote the Avengers and Spider-Man 2?
@Lekzie1 Are you living in an alternate reality?
even though they have solid line up for next year they have nothing new to show so no point in attending & making fools out of themselves like rest best stay at home and reveal down the road psx may be!
It sucks but understandable. If you have nothing to show, you have nothing to show.
watch a state of play come soon(ish) with a major chunk of TLoU2 gameplay in it. i think sony knew it would be criticised for basically showing the same games over again, or stringing out 3rd party content longer than it should have. it's taking so long to make games these days, that it could be two years or more after teaser CGI trailers are shown before a game will come out. anything that far out for sony is going to be on PS5, so what was the point. EA had basically little to show, and basically could have skipped it this year. probably better for Sony to do it this year, when other publishers are in a similar boat.
i assume they still have a presence on the floor though where people can play some of the latest upcoming games on PS4?
Half the stuff so far is at the level of a press release, twitter campaign and a youtube video. No need to show on stage at E3. Garbage F2P Mobile game?!... Really?!
Just stay home and use all this cash/time to make a DEMO.
@BridgeToClarity
"....Just show the damn games and get on with it"
+1... why people staying up for - games!
Yup, I think it’s better for sony to use e3 money for their own developers to finish their games rather than wasting it on live show, just make good state of play and fill it with great games. And I think sony own devs is glad because they don’t have to crunch to make e3 demo. They can shows the demo/trailers whenever they’re ready in state of play.
Sony ps5 surprise interview on wired is way better than xbox announcement, most people see xbox announcement and say “so it’s just like ps5 but without god of war/spider-man/tlou series?”. For ps5 I think sony will make their own event to shows it rather than going to e3, just like apple wwdc or iphone launch event.
i'm almost certain sony won't reveal PS5 at next year's E3 either. they will do it on their own terms. all you need to do is look at most gaming sites and see article after article after article about E3 related stuff just scroll by. for me, E3 is mostly just noise.
i think microsoft's conference was far better than anyone expected. might have been their best conference this generation actually. this is coming from someone who heavily dislikes everything they stand for as a brand as their 1st party lineup does not speak to me at all. can someone explain to me why microsoft is being so heavily criticized this year? most e3 conferences lack surprises... so if it is just about not being surprised, that is nothing new and quite frankly, people are impossible to please these days anyways. seeing keanu reeves on the stage for the cyberpunk announcement was one of the coolest things i have seen in years so that is my opinion on the matter. skipping e3 does no look "smart" for sony at all — that said, i also agree that they don't need to be at e3, but then again, nobody does, so what is that really saying at the end of the day?
Of course the event is naturally going to be duller if one of the teams doesn’t show up. Extreme example but you wouldn’t say a football team were right not to turn up to a final because it was boring watching the other side kick a ball about on their own for 90 minutes 🤷♂️
@HailHydra97 As per community rules
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This has been a fairly disappointing E3 to be honest. If all the new games announced would’ve actually gotten gameplay trailers to accompany their announcements it wouldn’t have been so bad. But... looks like almost everything new that was shown off is more than likely being saved for next gen anyways, so they honestly could've and should’ve waited until later in the year to make their announcements and maybe had gameplay demonstrations ready.
Yes, it was clever for Sony not to be there because they clearly didn't have anything else to show this year. Showing gameplay footage/trailers from the same upcoming games(Death Stranding, TLOU2, Ghost of Tsushima) for the upteenth time wasn't going to cut it.
That doesn't mean we have to diminish everyone else's presense just to boost our fanboy ego. Microsoft, Bethesda etc., while i agree not having the best presentations for some time now, DID have something to show hence why they showed up. And there's still Ubisoft, SE and Nintendo. Don't count those out yet.
The only thing Sony has right now are the 3 exclusives i mentioned above(and Dreams) until the next E3 where they'll focus on PS5. That doesn't mean that everybody else is on the same page.
I know this is a PS focused site but, i'm sorry to say, these kinds of articles really make me cringe.....
@ShogunRok agreed. I'm amazed Microsoft didn't manage to get many juices flowing, but the reality is I guess it's just to early for the majority of their acquisitions to have anything to show. I must say I was surprised that after MS saying they are going to invest in single player too that Ninja Theory comes out with a multiplayer title, but I know it has been in development since before the acquisition; it's just kind of ironic. Sony really is the one to beat. They learned hard lessons in the PS3 era that they got too cocky after the success of the PS2, and it's paying dividends now. The irony is some of what Sony is doing is what gave MS the momentum last generation! Getting timed exclusive third party DLC and the like. I have always been in the Sony camp, though I had an OG Xbox and will pick up a 360 at some point and maybe a One later down the line, but I say good luck to MS. Competition is always a good thing in this industry as it leads to better consoles, better games.....well better everything.
@Syndrome
The article is simply saying that, indeed, Sony didn't need to be at E3 and explains why.
I figured it out a long time ago though. Still they could have filled a conference in the same way xbox did, and show much, much more real gameplay.
Edit
I do agree that the football metaphor is silly but there's no need to be offended
@Syndrome i have to agree with you. there is nothing "smart" about sony's decision. going back to e3 with 4 trailers of games we have known about for 4 years would have been flat out embarrassing at this point. that is why sony is not there and they know it. that said, the whole e3 formula may be coming to an end and i think sony would be fine with its directs as well. but that more has to do with advances in technology and not needing a large stage in the year 2019 when compared to the 90s and 2000s. exposure is easy to get now and can be done far cheaper than the old way.
@Porco That's true, but in a direct type of streaming video you don't have the crowd cheering like 5 year olds who go to Disneyland for the first time everytime the developer on stage breathes. Don't forget:hype building is still a major promotional tool and one of the the best places to have that is in a theater full of people on a live show;)
It is clear Sony was extremely prescient skipping E3. All their moves have been spot on with the wired Ps5 info to the death strandings trailer release date. And I imagine they will release a state of play after the E3 dust has settled with release dates for their other heavy hitters and perhaps a few surprises!!
Fanboys of Sony
Sony has conditioned players to expect gameplay. Not every game Sony reveals has it but their upcoming titles usually do or the dev will host a gameplay walkthrough like with spiderman.
Also, what I noticed is that all the shows put their biggest games at the beginning (with the exception of Microsoft) and had almost no new IPs to announce. I still remember 2016 when Sony announced GOW, HZD, Spiderman, and Death Stranding. It was an epic year. If Sony chooses to attend next year, it will be a hype juggernaut. People will know Sony has something to showcase.
Haha get Sony's d*** out of your mouth....
@BAMozzy
Is it weird that I was trying to decode some secret message from how many words you put in quotation marks in this post? Like it was supposed to spell out a secret message or something. I started reading it in my head in William Shatner's voice after awhile. Yeah, probably weird.
Despite your creative use of apostrophes, I agree 100% on your points.
Seems to be a big topic of late, I do agree with the points that E3 is becoming irrelevant, but I gaurentee that this is goes alot deeper, events rarely die (I work in the industry) and the whole situation will be resolved with money. I would bet that in the next 5 years we will be watching E3 being held elsewhere to save on costs (which has a Domino effect) everyone is looking for the cheaper outlay and these organiser won't be any different, they can sense the problem.. and the only way to resolve it will be to reduce costs for the attendees, but to do that, they would need cheaper outlays. Bye Bye LA, hello Middle East.
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