Sony’s announcement that they won’t be attending E3 2019 – the first time they will be sitting out E3 since its inception – was one that shocked the entire industry. While some have suggested that a lack of new things to show or wanting to save huge announcements for the next generation are the primary reasons for them skipping the show next year, others have suggested that they might just be done with E3 altogether. According to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, though, 2019 is a one-off occurrence, and doesn’t mean that Sony are going to be absent from E3 beyond 2019 as well.
While speaking with GamingBolt, Pachter said that Sony missing E3 2019 is a bad decision on their part, but that they will be back at E3 sooner rather than later. “I think it’s a one-off,” he said. “I think they made a bad decision. I think they somehow internally determined that the money’s not well spent- and they’re wrong. I don’t know what they spend on E3, but even if it’s $15 million, they get $15 million of publicity out of it. So I think they’re fools to bypass the show. And they’ll be back.”
Pachter was also critical of Sony’s E3 2018 conference – which was roundly criticized for its bizarre and misguided experimentation, in spite of great showings for games like Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us Part 2, and announcements for titles like Resident Evil 2 and Nioh 2.
“They had that stupid walk-through that nobody understood, and it just wasn’t fun. And I think they probably spent a ton on that,” he said. “And they’re very much guys who don’t acknowledge that they did anything wrong, so they just take their ball and go home, because it didn’t work well.”
When asked about why he thought Sony had skipped PlayStation Experience in 2018 as well, Pachter said that it was a combination of not having new things to show, and gearing up for the next generation. “Again- no games,” he said. “So I think it’s all related to gearing up for the next generation console. They’ll probably announce the next-gen console in Spring of 2020, and have their own event- maybe they’ll call it PSX. Maybe there’s a PSX in December of 2019, and they announce their next-gen console then.”
Given recent speculation for a PS5 reveal in 2019, and Sony also teasing announcements for the year, it’s highly likely that they will have something major to show in the second half of the year, so a PS5 reveal event close to or even at PSX 2019 seems quite likely. Then again, that’s little more than speculation.
Out full interview with Pachter will be going live soon, so stay tuned.
