Xbox And PlayStation Reveal E3 Plans
E3 is still several months away, but we already have a sense of what two huge gaming companies have in store for the industry's premier conference. One is deep into planning for what it'll show off during the event. And the other? That company is skipping the show entirely.
If you follow gaming pretty closely, it might not surprise you to learn which is which.
According to Microsoft's Phil Spencer, the Xbox crew is "hard at work on E3," which means the company will at least have a presence during E3 2020 — even if it's not on the show floor itself.
"Our artform has consistently been propelled by the cross-section of creativity and technical progress," Spencer tweeted. "2020 is a milestone year in that journey for Team Xbox."
Sony, however, is taking a different approach with the PlayStation brand — though it's one that'll look familiar. PlayStation will skip out on E3 2020, just as it did E3 2019.
"After thorough evaluation SIE has decided not to participate in E3 2020," a Sony spokesperson told GamesIndustry.biz. "We have great respect for the ESA as an organization, but we do not feel the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year."
So there you have it. We're not even midway through January and we already have a sense of how E3 is going to play out in June. We'll undoubtedly see a large Xbox show featuring the Xbox Series X and — potentially — Lockhart. That show will almost certainly be flanked by presentations from publishers; Bethesda, for instance, or Square Enix (which took Sony's typical prime time slot last year).
But Sony will go its own way, likely revealing the PlayStation 5 at its own event sometime in the weeks or months ahead. And it's possible the company will continue to lean on its State of Play streams to deliver other relevant news bits.
Two companies. Two very different approaches in an increasingly important year for gaming. We'll have to see who ultimately won out when both the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 launch in Holiday 2020.