PushSquare: Sony's Decision To Skip E3 2019 Is Starting To Look Really Smart

[DieH@rd]

E3 is not outdated yet, but Sony's schedule is already fleshed out. Their big PS4 games have already have several marketing pushes, and soon they will be out, while PS5 is still 1.5 years away and there is no point starting marketing for it this early.

Sony will be back at E3 next year I think, they will have much more things to promote then.

This year, they skipped E3 and competition did not punish them, which was quite strange.

 

[Lokimaster]

Sony disrespected her fans by skipping E3... and this comes from one of the biggest and loyal fans of hers.

They could have showed the following exclusives with trailers and gameplay demoes with a release date or even a release window would do fine:

- Death Stranding
- The Last of Us 2
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Dreams


And some other 3rd party games that are coming in the next year and a half which are A LOT.

They could have had an easily very SOLID 90 minutes show.

It was arrogant and stupid and unnecessary of them to skip the last main focused E3 for this generation.

I am a FAN, I have rights to be respected and pleased... I have the right for a press conference hell even a direct would have been fine by me, something to raise my hype in E3 because this time is our most important times as a gamers... it's truly a holiday for us, they could have made this E3 much better.

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How could Sony disrespect their fans with all of these high quality games they have been giving them? I would rather have the games Sony are giving us with with no e3 2019, than to not have had any exclusive games for years, and to have an E3 basically showing NOTHING.
E3 isn't all just for fans as you think, it's also business and for investors.

 

[dodmaster]

MS and Sony are not in the same position.
While i miss Sony not being there people are not talking about the lack of there first party games this gen .
Sony also going into next with much bigger user base.

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The equivocation just doesn't work, sorry. It just comes off as churlish to say that Microsoft shouldn't have bothered and it's approaching hubris to say that the biggest stage in the gaming calendar isn't worthy of Sony.

 

[truly101]

I've just never understood the manufactured 1upsmanship and tribalism that E3 brings. Sony skipping this year was absolutely the right move for them right now. MS is 2nd place and still wants to establish a good relationship with potential customers, the Switch is arguably entering its prime, especially since it had a somewhat quiet 2018. All three companies are in different places and they made the moves they needed to make. this constant handwringing over this is becoming tiresome and kinda stupid.

 

[Deleted member 54073]

Sony not being there just increases the hype for when they do next show up whether it be PSX, a Playstation Meeting or E3 2020.

 

[Shpeshal Nick]

Of course it was smart. They had nothing to show.

 

[giallo]

I was bummed Sony opted out this year, but yeah, in retrospect it was the right move. There's no point going if you aren't going to have a compelling show. Ubisoft, for instance, really shouldn't have been there. They could have easily done their GaaS updates (because that's what most of their show was) in video format.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

The equivocation just doesn't work, sorry. It just comes off as churlish to say that Microsoft shouldn't have bothered and it's approaching hubris to say that the biggest stage in the gaming calendar isn't worthy of Sony.

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It's not worth it to Sony this year .
They will be back next year .
Saying Sony and MS are in same position is not looking at reality .
People acting like they are trying to make thing simple when it's not.

 

[vypek]

IDK if I'd call it smart or stupid. I guess it's better for them not to show than have pretty much nothing too new or interesting to show. There was only a handful of stuff I was interested in from what I watched. Solid E3 overall but can't say I cared too much that Sony wasn't there

 

[King Dodongo]

Of course it was smart. They had nothing to show.

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[asmith906]

I liked the e3 conferences we got. I don't get all the negativity.

 

[Techno]

They should have had a show to counter Keanu with Kojima.

Missed opportunity.

 

[ArjanN]

Bad.

Anything is better than nothing. Even if you think the other shows were like a B or C, not showing up is an automatic F.

 

[dodmaster]

It's not worth it to Sony this year .
They will be back next year .
Saying Sony and MS are in same position is not looking at reality .
People acting like they are trying to make thing simple when it's not.

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I'm not saying they're in the same position. I'm saying the benefit of the doubt in this article is given to the predictable quarter, and that presenting Sony's absence as anything but a negative is disingenuous.

 

[Cyclonesweep]

I liked the e3 conferences we got. I don't get all the negativity.

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People are upset we didn't see a ton of gameplay or great new games.
To me it made sense cause we are at the end of the generation really so all the big shit is going to be announced next e3 with the reveal of next gen.

I expected what we got and still had a few fun surprises.

 

[Lifendz]

Sony's conferences are held to a really high standard. Skipping the show in an off year is smart. Hell, they might just skip E3 altogether and swift everything to PSX.

 

[Loudninja]

Where's the 5th option:

Bad, but they could have at least tried.

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Again for what? why waste time when you know you dont have much to show yet? Sony still have several games that still not out yet.

It would just be a repeat of last E3 its pointless.

 

[Spider-Man]

Lol
I mean it's pushsquare, totally not biased.

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Pretty much haha

 

[BuckRogers]

It seems simple: Sony figured they didn't have enough to show, probably felt a bit burned by last year's "deep dive" strategy getting some bad impressions, and decided to skip. They're in a very strong position and can afford to.

MS is in a different position, had better reactions to last year's conference, and so made a different decision.

I wasn't super impressed with MS, but I think they made the right choice for them, and likewise I think don't made the right choice given where they are.

 

[Amanita]

It wasn't good or bad. It was meaningless. Sony is preparing for the real showdown, which is their next PlayStation vs. the next Xbox. Everything is about to be up for grabs again, and Sony has to convince customers to continue to put faith in them and to stick with them next generation. When they do their PS5 event, all eyes will be on them and nobody is going to remember or care that they didn't attend E3.

 

[Kyra]

Sorry, but I don't get. No press is no press.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

I'm not saying they're in the same position. I'm saying the benefit of the doubt in this article is given to the predictable quarter, and that presenting Sony's absence as anything but a negative is disingenuous.

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It's being a negative is yet to be seen but for Sony it self you can see the positives.
The save millions of dollars , there devs don't have to do stuff for e3 .
Truth is for MS and Sony next year is when the battle will start and everyone will forget this year and be hype again .

 

[Kerotan]

Sony played a master stroke. By the time their next event comes around the hype will be dialed up to 11 as we've not heard from them since E3 2018.

The reason why people thought it was a bad idea was because Microsoft would have the whole floor for themselves. However they went, didn't announce any megatons and the most interesting games they showed were also available on PS4

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"Microsoft missing an open goal"

lol yeah, nobody even noticed Keanu in Cyberpunk 2077 or tweeted about it.

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The funny thing is they are giving big promotion to games that will sell much more on PS4 then Xbox anyway. So Sony really don't lose in this situation either way.

 

[only_fools_&_horses]

This year, they skipped E3 and competition did not punish them, which was quite strange.

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It just shows how Microsoft is incapable.

Besides Forbes, this article, surely unbiased, describes them :

USGamer: Microsoft's Dud of an E3 2019 Press Conference Makes Sony Look Smart for Skipping the Show

Spoiler

 

[Iwao]

They had nothing to show.

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I instantly think anyone saying this is just repeating what they heard others say. Sony had plenty they could have shown, but it would have been a re-tread of their conference last year and would be rebuked. They've had 2 State of Play streams worth of content and a Death Stranding release trailer they could have saved for E3, as well as talked to third-party devs to get some tasty reveals. It turns out they had others plans which we can only speculate about for the most part. They decided not to get people hyped up with something unreasonable like Microsoft and their insider sources did. Instead, opting for some nice surprises whenever they feel like sharing.

Nah, they gained some considerable and valuable time/man-hours/resources, they mitigated developer stress and provided breathing room for their projects to meet their deadlines and saved a shit ton of money.

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This is one of the most important posts to take away from this discussion. For some reason some people want developers to crunch to meet an E3 deadline every year without fail rather than invest that time and energy back into the project they're working on.

 

[dodmaster]

It's being a negative is yet to be seen but for Sony it self you can see the positives.
The save millions of dollars , there devs don't have to do stuff for e3 .
Truth is for MS and Sony next year is when the battle will start and everyone will forget this year and be hype again .

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Well Sony not being at E3 is a negative for me. For the Gamers and all that. This is supposed to be Gamer Christmas but Sony comes across like the Grinch.

 

[McScroggz]

The thing is what would their show have been? I don't think we can magically input bombs game reveals, and while showing off some gameplay for their upcoming big games would be exciting I don't think they would have enough new stuff to have a really good presentation. Maybe it would have been decent, but then they would be in an awkward position to talk more concretely about the PS5.

Because they skipped E3 they don't have to worry about a bad or forgettably decent presentation, and they have flexibility with making late changes to the PS5 or really define what their messaging will be when they unveil the console.

And it gives them a chance to polish and get gameplay demos ready for upcoming games for PSX.

 

[Ploid 6.0]

Good E3 seems bleh anyway, just like Oscars, Emmys, Superbowl commercials, etc. Just show your cool commercial and previews when your marketing team is ready.

 

[Skux]

It's not about whether they should be there advertising themselves. Of course it's a good idea.

The question is if it's worth it to do so. And it isn't, not this year. All we would have gotten was trailers of games we already know are coming, and CG reveals of games that are too far away to have gameplay.

 

[Baji Boxer]

They should've at least done one of the PS Direct things, imo.

 

[teacup]

It's a marketing convention. People can enjoy the convention for sure, but don't get mad just because Sony wanted to market a different way this year. They have the games (TLoU2, Ghosts of Tsushima, Death Stranding) to make a big impact and then juice it up with some smaller titles, but obviously didn't feel it would be up to snuff both for them and E3. And that's completely OK.

Stop being angry or dissapointed that a company didn't market to you in your preferred method for one year. It makes you look like children.

 

[P A Z]

I hope we get one of these every day for the next two weeks, the reactions will never stop being funny.

 

[Batatina]

Their presence was sorely missed, because they have amazing games. But it was the smart thing to do if their games aren't quite ready, or are all cross gen.

 

[Gatti-man]

E3 is not outdated yet, but Sony's schedule is already fleshed out. Their big PS4 games have already have several marketing pushes, and soon they will be out, while PS5 is still 1.5 years away and there is no point starting marketing for it this early.

Sony will be back at E3 next year I think, they will have much more things to promote then.

This year, they skipped E3 and competition did not punish them, which was quite strange.

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Yeah I'd say you're completely wrong here. Not being at E3 let MS dominate and it did so pretty thoroughly. Rolling out Scarlet. Debuting dates for its exclusives and talking about the future with zero Sony interference. Pretty much the standard for allowing your competition to run wild.

I think the only reason people don't see it that way is because Sony has been so dominant this generation which really means nothing for next gen as we've seen before.

 

[John Frost]

Next year's gonna be fun here, oh baby.

 

[dude]

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.

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There's something I really hate about treating any game that isn't triple-A as "filler".
I'm honestly considering changing my vote to a "Good" since the lack of another platform holder sort of felt like it gave more room for smaller games to be in the spotlight!

 

[Champion]

Of course it was smart. They had nothing to show.

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[Ploid 6.0]

Sony's conferences are held to a really high standard. Skipping the show in an off year is smart. Hell, they might just skip E3 altogether and swift everything to PSX.

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I would actually like that. Gives other devs like Square time to shine their own events instead of sharing it with Sony's conference during the same event.

 

[MONSTER]

totally not a fanboy thread and article

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I know right?

The agenda people are trying to push is so crystal clear

Like Sony wasn't there yet the usuals just can't stop but help themselves to make it about Sony :eyeroll:

 

[Dougieflesh]

Sony being at E3 and showing those same games for the 3rd straight year woulda been a massive waste of my time.

 

[ElephantShell]

Sony could have thrown together a decent show with The Last of Us and Ghost of Tsushima updates, CG trailers for games coming out over a year from now, third party stuff and a vague description of their next console but..... These shows take a lot of resources to put together and they're doing well right now already so if they don't have anything pressing or imminent to show off I don't blame them at all for skipping.

PSX will be good and we'll keep getting State of Plays for the smaller stuff.

 

[Golvellius]

It just shows how Microsoft is incapable.

Besides Forbes, this article, surely unbiased, describes them :

USGamer: Microsoft's Dud of an E3 2019 Press Conference Makes Sony Look Smart for Skipping the Show

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I did a CTRL-F for "game pass", and not even a single time this term occurs in the article. That just shows how incapable the author is, and also any reader who takes the article seriously. Three years ago this same person probably would have written an article about when MS is going to leave the gaming business. It's quite pathetic, but not unexpected of course.

 

[tutomos]

The point I'm making is that you don't know whether or not it "hurt" them because we have no evidence of what the alternate outcome is.

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I got what you said the first time. To be fair you are not wrong that we don't actually know if it will hurt them or not. Sometimes perception is reality, as the poll shows the majority of people think it doesn't hurt.

 

[only_fools_&_horses]

I did a CTRL-F for "game pass", and not even a single time this term occurs in the article. That just shows how incapable the author is, and also any reader who takes the article seriously. Three years ago this same person probably would have written an article about when MS is going to leave the gaming business. It's quite pathetic, but not unexpected of course.

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Is E3 about new games and upcoming to show or about how some service is cheap and which games will come to service?

Don't blame me if vast majority here and media outside this board are dissapointed by MS showing.

 

[get2sammyb]

Love people discussing the article, but it always frustrates me when people completely disregard our site because we're focused on a single format. Yes, we're a PlayStation fansite, but I've always felt that our position puts us in a good place to criticise Sony just as much as we praise them.

And we do criticise them plenty.

Again, I'm happy for everyone to disagree with the content of the article -- it's just an opinion piece, after all. But I find it really disappointing when the argument is merely "lol Push Square bias fanboy".

 

[Puffy]

 

[xxracerxx]

The equivocation just doesn't work, sorry. It just comes off as churlish to say that Microsoft shouldn't have bothered and it's approaching hubris to say that the biggest stage in the gaming calendar isn't worthy of Sony.

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Saying Sony didn't need to have a conference isn't the same thing as saying MS shouldn't have either.

 

[Pryme]

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Well yeah, I bought that for a dollar. Upgraded to 2022, no less.

Exactly as Microsoft planned. Build up the Game pass user base, keep users hooked on a steady stream of content and then get the continuous subscription revenue from recurring payments.

All that and they didn't even have to reveal their hand for their next gen launch. Seems like a successful outing for them.

 

[Deleted member 873]

Don't have anything don't go

 

[Lifendz]

I would actually like that. Gives other devs like Square time to shine their own events instead of sharing it with Sony's conference during the same event.

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Same. It's probably where all this is going for all the console manufacturers. E3 needs them more than they need E3.