PlayStation counts ‘bigger, fewer games’ rationale to not having presence at E3 event
‘BIGGER, fewer games,” the ability to reach fans, retailers and press at other times, and a lack of big announcements this June are among reasons for Shawn Layden, Chairman of Worldwide Studios at Sony Interactive Entertainment, to have PlayStation skip E3 2019.
At the 2018 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Sony’s console brand PlayStation focused on an unusually narrow band of four games: “Marvel’s Spider-Man,” “God of War,” “The Last of Us Part II” and “Ghost of Tsushima.”
Two of those were launched toward the end of the year, leaving “The Last of Us Part II” and “Ghost of Tsushima” in the hopper, though with release dates still unannounced.
The conventional gaming industry is being roiled by the entry of free-to-play rivals.
Nintendo had already reconfigured its E3 strategy, swapping keynote presentations for show floor livestreams and a major focus on one or two standouts.
In November, PlayStation went further, saying it would “not participate” in E3 2019.
Talking to CNET, PlayStation games executive Shawn Layden shed further light on that decision, citing the changing nature of the trade, of news distribution, and of PlayStation’s own strategy.
“I think we’ve done a lot over the last three or four years to get us to a place right now where we’re building fewer games per year than ever before,” Layden said. “But we’re spending more time, more energy, certainly more money, on making them.” — Relaxnews