Microsoft confirms E3 2020 attendance as Sony bows out

By Asher Madan
published

Xbox will be there.

Xbox @ E3
Xbox @ E3 (Image credit: Windows Central)

Xbox E3

Source: Windows Central (Image credit: Source: Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Sony is skipping E3 2020 this year.
  • This has become somewhat of a trend and the company will hold smaller events during the time.
  • Microsoft confirmed that it's going to be at the event.
  • The compete Xbox Series X specifications may be revealed then.

Yesterday, Sony announced that it wasn't going to hold a media briefing at E3 2020, but would instead have hundreds of smaller events around the world. With the rumored PlayStation 5 (PS5) reveal coming in February, it doesn't seem like the company needs the E3 stage this year, or ever again for that matter. The company said the following.

After thorough evaluation Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has decided not to participate in E3 2020. We have great respect for the Entertainment Software Association (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.

Microsoft is going a more traditional route. Last night, Xbox head Phil Spencer confirmed that he and the team would be there. Spencer said the following. It seems like Spencer views E3 as a celebration of gaming, and that's why the company is attending.

Our team is hard at work on E3, we look forward to sharing with all who love to play what's ahead for us. Our artform has consistently been propelled by the cross-section of creativity and technical progress. 2020 is a milestone year in that journey for Team Xbox.

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It's unclear when Microsoft will reveal the Xbox Series X specifications, but it might happen at E3. However, only time will tell. Since Sony is expected to discuss the PS5 next month, we may even get proper confirmation then. Who knows? We'll keep you posted as soon as we know more. The current rumors state that PS5 features 9 teraflops (tflops) while the Xbox Series X is at 12 tflops.

The ESA said the following about E3 and Sony's decision to skip the event.

E3 is a signature event celebrating the video game industry and showcasing the people, brands, and innovations redefining entertainment loved by billions of people around the world. E3 2020 will be an exciting, high-energy show featuring new experiences, partners, exhibitor spaces, activations, and programming that will entertain new and veteran attendees alike. Exhibitor interest in our new activations is gaining the attention of brands that view E3 as a key opportunity to connect with video game fans worldwide.

What do you want to see from next-generation consoles? How do you feel about major companies skipping E3? Let us know.

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Asher Madan
Asher Madan

Asher Madan handles gaming news for Windows Central. Before joining Windows Central in 2017, Asher worked for a number of different gaming outlets. He has a background in medical science and is passionate about all forms of entertainment, cooking, and antiquing.

13 Comments
  • Not surprised. This is probably due to cost savings. I think outside of the gaming and music division Sony isn't doing very well.
  • Exactly... Movies too.. Pretty much the entire entertainment division is holding the company out of bankruptcy.. Even though they are doing a little better than a few years back as a whole...
  • They're launching PS5 this year. The marketing budget for that will be astronomical. They're not skipping E3 because of money. Expect Sony to do an event where they won't have to share the headlines with Microsoft.
  • Sony makes a few billion every quarter in profit, they're doing fine. Phone division loses money, but their imaging division easily makes up for that, and the rest are all turning a profit.
  • @jams
    What funny logic. They are trying to save little marketing money by not promoting of the thing that makes them the most money... But I'm sure MS/XB fanboys would love Sony+Nintendo to go bankrupt and MS gets monopoly.
    With zero competition, the company they worship will probably make much more money milking gamers at the expense of gamers/gaming. Paradise for XB fanboys... Anyway, you know what I think? I wonder if having your own event so that the attention is fully on you and your product is not better than having restricted time, share space and media coverage with other major publishers... Maybe Sony thinks that and decided to do their own event at another date.
  • Methinks the PlayStation 5 is falling behind schedule
  • E3 going to be out back with Old Yeller soon.
  • After last year's E3 I'm sure they announced plans for a more "festival style" E3 with influencers being at the forefront. If that's the case, I'm out.
  • This isn't good for Sony. E3 last year was viewed by more people than any other videogame event. Sonys own events don't actually get anywhere near the viewer numbers E3 pulls in. This is a very strange move by Sony. Why on earth would you willingly not be at the biggest Video games show in the world. Both by attendance and by viewers. Something isn't right over at Sony. Lots of little things starting to add up to a big thing. Weaker console. Less investment in videogame shows. And thy actively advertise they will only do a few small shows in the year? MS can literally have an amazing start to next Gen. They will be coming with big big ganes this E3. Unless Sony don't really have any first party games for PS5 ready. Which would actually make sense, considering all their big devs like Naughty Dog are nearly ready to release their new PS4 game. So it will be 4 years odd before we see a Naughty Dog PS5 game. Same with Polyphony. And quite a few others.
  • Well, I think they know what they're actually doing.
    PS4 was extremely popular and they just announced great numbers.
    I think there are a lot of satisfied people out there looking forward to the new console.
    This tells a story:
    https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/08/sony-ps5-logo-liked-instagram-image-ever-... I don't know about the number of viewers. That remains to be seen. I would think they have the numbers... Most of the people watching E3 are gamers, and it's highly likely that these same people will also watch another show by Sony. But it's not just about views and I think mostly about sharing media attention and space with all major publishers. Why do that when you can get all the attention to yourself and your product by choosing your own date. Weaker console? You talk of the upcoming ones? If yes, do you have a link proving that with actual benchmark or is it YET another Richard Loverdige lie?
  • I'm hearing in a few other forums that last year Sony actually fell out with ESA. And that still hasn't been resolved. There is a few in the industry that are actually saying Sony not being at E3 is not by choice. It's because they have fallen out with the company behind E3. My point was. It's actually not the year you want to be missing the biggest media reach for videogame for new console launches. MS can actually take big advantage this year. And it's probably the year Sony really needed to compete heavily. This E3 we have literally no clue what first party games MS has. The only title by the time E3 hits we will know about is Halo Infinite. And recently Hellblade 2. Bleeding Edge will have come out. So will Ori 2 already be out. We will have literally loads of new never before announced ganes from MS this E3. Tons of studios all that have revealed nothing. And as I said by E3 practically everything will have come out from last E3. So this is a big year for E3. A massive one. And now MS have it to themselves. You can keep nobbing on about the console specs. And yes your right we haven't had the final spec list. But at this point every single videogame tech site and media outlet is reporting those leaked specs are confirmed through their sources. There has never been a more unified videogame media about a leak before. Everyone is reporting they are basically accurate unconfirmed confirmed specs. At this point if the Xbox Series X isn't 30-40% faster than PS5, the whole videogame world will be shocked. This is several leaks now, months apart all saying the same thing. Confirmed by multiple media to be direct from AMD. Let's not cut this to be fake or false. At this point Sony missing E3 is bad news this year. And Rumours are it's a fallout with E3. Not because they wanted to do their own shows which attracted much less attention last year. E3 is like the Xmas day of Video gaming. Everyone and their mother watches it. It's a time the entire industry and developers are their to answer questions to. Sony are giving MS and easy ride launching this new console. North America is a place that will easily switch to back to Xbox. It's not a wise thing for Sony to not attend the US main world vdeiogsme show. MS can win back millions of US gamers next Gen. If they utilize a massive E3, with tons of new game announcements from all those teams that haven't announced anything for the last 2 and a half years. Don't think for a moment PS5 has next Gen in the bag. There's even Rumours around that Series X may have a seperate Windows 10 mode and will have Steam and Epic Game Store. It all actually makes sense when talking about the specs of the machine. Series X Navi GPU is said to be RDNA 2.0. That isn't even out on PC Navi cards yet. They are all RDNA 1. 0. Also that's what PS5 specs leaks by AMD show. PS5 is RDNA 1.0. With this much power the Series X will be absolutely able to play PC games at top top visual settings. It will outperform a RTX 2080 Super. If the windows mode rumour is correct. It puts Sony in a very tricky position. If they continue with launching games on PC, then Xbox players would be abke to play Sony exclusives on their 12tflops Series X. https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/xbox-series-x-may-support-steam-and-epic-g...
  • "You can keep nobbing on about the console specs."
    Quite funny when I only ask for proof. You are the one making rumours sound like facts. You have been proved wrong countless times but you just keep doing it. Well, why not? There is no accountability on internet, you can keep lying and lying... It's so easy to make general statement talking in the name for the "whole videogame world". Do you think Sony won't have their own event? You think they'll stealth launch their new console? For me, it's like this; both companies will have their events. MS will have it at E3, Sony will have it at another day. These are just dates.
    During E3, MS's news will be mixed with stuff, from Ubisoft, Nintendo, Bethesda...
    Sony will be able to choose when they want to have it. They may look to a week where there is no other news. We'll just wait and see what happens. I think Sony knows what they are doing here. "Let's not cut this to be fake or false."
    It's neither true nor false. It's just you trying to make your prediction and speculation sound like facts. They are and will remain your prediction. Most of your post was all about speculations and rumours. Few months back you were going on and on about the PS5 having software Ray Tracing while the new XB was going to have hardware ray tracing.
    All you do is speculate, and mix random rumours to try an solidify your point. Many times your present the rumours as facts and go on with it... I think you're doing this because you are trying to create hype around XB in this "console war" and I also think you don't care how accurate you are as long as people end up getting a XB... That's probably who you are, I just think it's weird...
  • Proved wrong Yada Yada Yada. So have you my friend. On many occasions. I've also been right on many occasions. Although I don't expect you to admit that. Cause of your absolute hatred for anything MS. You literally argue with every single person on this site. Telling others they follow a company Yada Yada Yada. When it's very clear you defend Sony at every single chance you get. No I don't need to sift through posts for proof. There's 3 articles on the main page your arguing with people on. Constantly arguing putting MS down. All the time booorrrriiiinnngggg. I didn't say Sony won't have their own event. My point was based on last year, Sony own events had millions less viewers than last years E3. Sonys own events last year were not nearly on the same viewership level as E3. The Ray Tracing wasn't speculation. It was based on AMDs own E3 conference and Navis road map. There is still a very large question mark over PS Ray Tracing. AMD Hybrid software Ray tracing still gets classed as hardware ray Tracing by some in the industry. Which would likely makes sense if PS5 is indeed using RDNA v1.0 Navi which is found in the current PC GPU 5700XT. Which can do Ray Tracing but it's not truly hardware lavel. RDNA v2.0 Navi GPU will release later this year on PC. And will have proper hardware level Ray Tracing. I'm still holding by my claim PS5 will not have hardware level Ray Tracing not using Hybrid from AMD. And if the rumour of 9.2 TFLOPS (which looks very likely) holds true, Ray Tracing is going to be very difficult to implement on PS5 while keeping the visual fidelity the Rumoured 12.2tflops Series X has. Ray Tracing is actually the catalyst that makes more power more visible next Gen. Having 3 TFLOPS more is going to make a very large difference because Ray Tracing is involved. It's the most taxing compute task to do. I actually think you enjoy being a Sony fan and moving around the internet trolling Xbox pages. The leaks before last Gen about PS4 being more powerful were all correct. Also the leaks got the GDDR5 memory change correct also. PS5 devkit went out 6 months before Series X did. Which also backs up the claim PS5 is using RDNA v 1.0. Nothing is ever certain. But Sonys build up to PS5 doesn't feel right. It feels flat. It's nothing like the PS4 build up was. And the generic graph at Ces was like a big admittance they don't really have anything worthwhile to show. I can bet my bottom dollar Sony avoid talk about power next Gen. It feels alot like the PS3 build up. I can see MS gaining a huge amount of momentum and press from E3 this year. To be honest I don't really care what you think. You do this to every person on this site in any article you post negativity about.