Here’s a big one: Sony has confirmed today that the company will NOT have any presence at next year’s E3 2019. Not only won’t there be a press conference from PlayStation, but there won’t even be a booth either.

This mark’s the first time in the show’s 24-year history that Sony won’t be attending. Sony has issued a statement to Variety as well.

“As the industry evolves, Sony Interactive Entertainment continues to look for inventive opportunities to engage the community. “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.”

The Electronic Entertainment Exposition, otherwise known as E3, is the biggest video game event of the year, and typically happens in June where other big-name video game companies like Microsoft, EA, and the rest all hold press conferences and try to one-up each other with the game reveals.

More PlayStation Reading:

• Sony Stealthily Rolls Out a Set of New PlayStation Store Discounted Games, Most Don’t Require PS+
• Sony Celebrates PS4 Fifth Year Anniversary: Over 86 Million Units Sold, Most Popular Games Listed
• Sony Patents Gaming Controller With a Touchscreen Display, Check Out the Image Explaining the Tech

What’s interesting here is, Sony has also decided not to hold its annual PlayStation Experience next month. Does this mean Sony has nothing to show for 2019 and beyond? I highly doubt that, but given recent rumblings, it seems we’re due for a PS5 announcement anytime soon now, and it would make a lot of sense if Sony held its own event just for it, and in which case, the company can then include the other PlayStation-related announcements in the same event.

Are you surprised at this development or do you think Sony has something different in mind when it comes to press conferences? Or do you think that this is somehow tied in to the PS5 announcement?