Sony might have skipped out on the E3 2019 festivities, but that doesn't mean that there hasn't been a host of exciting announcements and E3 2019 games revealed out of the Xbox E3 2019 and Bethesda E3 2019 conferences that are also coming to PS4 in 2019 and beyond. From the news that Cyberpunk 2077 release date has been set in stone, to the reveal of games like Arkane's Deathloop, Tango Gameworks' GhostWire: Tokyo. Obsidian's upcoming RPG Outer Worlds release date was also confirmed, as was the Doom Eternal release date. Sony E3 2019 may not have officially happened, but it's still a great time to be a PlayStation fan.
Besides, PlayStation got ahead of the annual conferences to reveal a nine-minute Death Stranding trailer last week that was as intriguing as it was confusing. Sony has also already unveiled limited details on the PS5, which is expected to launch in 2020, and a number of leaks have already given us our first PS5 gameplay reveal. For now, let's get into why there will be no PlayStation E3 2019 media briefing and what that might mean for Sony in the coming months.
There is no PlayStation E3 2019 press conference this year
Last November Sony announced that there will not be a PlayStation E3 2019 presence, marking the first time the company has skipped the show.
"As the industry evolves, Sony Interactive Entertainment continues to look for inventive opportunities to engage the community," Sony said in a statement. "PlayStation fans mean the world to us and we always want to innovate, think differently and experiment with new ways to delight gamers. As a result, we have decided not to participate in E3 in 2019. We are exploring new and familiar ways to engage our community in 2019 and can’t wait to share our plans with you.”
While Sony does have a number of games in active development for the PS4 (and, presumedly, the PS5), this move seems to be an acknowledgment of sorts that preparing for E3 can be a time and resource-intensive process. With no PlayStation E3 2019 conference on the cards, it means studios like Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch, and Kojima Productions can focus on core development rather than putting together showpiece demonstrations or pulling together vertical-slice builds of in-production games that can hold up to scrutiny from both the press and the public that'll be walking the E3 show floor.
While you should expect to see a number of games get announced for the PS4 during E3 2019 from third-party developers, the reveals won't come from Sony directly.
More distressingly, it also means that we are going to have to wait a little longer to hear from some of Sony's biggest first-party and partner studios. What has Guerrilla been working on, given that Horizon Zero Dawn shipped back in 2017 and a sequel, Horizon Zero Dawn 2, is still but a rumour? What of Gran Turismo developer Polyphony Digital, who also released its last game in 2017?
Sadly, it also means we will need to wait a little longer to see what Manchester Studio is cooking up for PSVR, and what both Insomniac and Japan Studio has planned following the release of Spider-Man and Astro Bot, respectively. E3 2020 could be huge for Sony, but it means that it's all quiet on the PlayStation E3 2019 front.
What that means for PlayStation in 2019
Just because PlayStation isn't at E3 2019, that doesn't mean we won't be hearing more from the company in 2019. At some point, Sony has to talk about PS5 publicly and in more depth than it has done up until this point – otherwise it risks letting Microsoft and Google set the conversation for the next generation with Xbox Project Scarlett and Stadia, respectively.
It also won't want us forgetting about the big first-party titles it has in the works. As well as Death Stranding, Sony has The Last of Us Part 2 – a game we haven't heard about for a while now – and Sucker Punch's Ghost of Tsushima. Thanks to those leaks we were talking about earlier, Sony reaffirmed its support for the current generation, and confirmed that The Last of Us: Part 2, Death Stranding, and Ghost of Tsushima are still PS4 bound. We are also expecting to see Pixelopus' Concrete Genie, Flavourwork's Erica, and Other Ocean's MediEvil revival all arrive this year, but we'll have to wait for more information.
Expect then to see Sony bring back the PlayStation Experience – also known as PSX – in December 2019. The fan event skipped 2018, but with E3 out of the picture, it will be the platform holder's big chance to talk to fans directly and update them all on the PlayStation blockbusters that are coming their way.
Be sure to follow the GamesRadar E3 2019 hub for all of our exclusive coverage out of the show floor, including analysis, hands-on previews, interviews, and more!
