In the year in which we will witness the ESA celebration of the 25th anniversary of the E3 event, we hear from here and there are rumors about the decline in the popularity of the event amid news about the withdrawal of some companies and the decrease of others in the level of its participation compared to previous years.
The most important absence is the absence of Sony, and this is the second time in a row. After this decision, various reactions came in this article. I will discuss the reasons for absence
Before going into a discussion of the reasons, let me talk a few points about Sony's history at the exhibition and the most important moments that excited us and others that are disappointing and disappointing:
Shocks and disappointments to the public
Despite these surprises, E3 shows for Sony and its fans carried some shocking moments, perhaps the most prominent of which was the unveiling of the surprising price of the Playstation 3 in E3 2006, which many considered very expensive, which is $ 500 for the twenty-GB version and $ 600 for the sixty-GB version, and at that time no one was able to hide their admiration for this high price Which was considered one of the reasons for the decline of the device and the superiority of the competitor Xbox 360.
The disappointments followed with the loss of Sony of major exclusives that were heavily dependent on them and the resort of the developers to support the Microsoft device. For example, in E3 2008, we mention Sony's loss of exclusive Final Fantasy, with Square Enix announcing the release of the main series parts starting from Part 13 on the Microsoft device, which provoked the PlayStation fans.
Nor can we be surprised by the surprise that Microsoft had attended for Sony in E3 2006 when Peter Moore stepped onto the stage of the Xbox to announce the arrival of the GTA IV for Xbox 360 on the day of its launch of the PS3 with exclusive content.
Surprising moments and moments
No one can forget the conference in which the Playstation 4 was talked about and its price announced, as the company took advantage of the mistakes of its competitor Microsoft and turned it into advantages for its device, as it talked about its device does not need a permanent internet connection and supports used games, and above that it will be available at a price less than $ 100 from Xbox One and this It was enough to make the crowd scream madly.
Sony's march kicked off at the E3 1995 showroom, where it announced its first PlayStation device at a price of $ 299 and with the support of all third-party companies to deliver the first severe blow to Sega at the time, which had revealed its Sega Saturn device at $ 400 and launched it without mobilizing third-party support.
Then, in E3 1996, Sony reduced its price to $ 199, after which the company announced the announcement of the games until the E3 1999 exhibition where the Playstation 2 device was revealed, which represented a fundamental turning point that enabled the company to dominate the market.
Over the years, Sony's conferences at E3 exhibitions have included many surprises and moments that made us warmly applauded, such as the rise of Gabe Newell on the Sony conference hall in E3 2010 to present a message of a hidden apology to the public because of his previous comments that criticized home appliances with the disclosure of the Portal 2 for the PlayStation 3.
So why withdraw from E3 2020?
All those beautiful or shocking moments we will miss repeating at Sony conferences at E3 after its last decision, over the years E3 has suffered setbacks. The E3 2007 exhibition included only 33 games and the E3 2008 exhibition welcomed only 5,000 people while at the first E3 show in 1995 the number of visitors was more than 40,000. But Sony's absence may be more influential than we envision and this prompts us to try to find the reasons for this decision.
We may understand its decision last year not to participate that it did not have any new games to display in front of the players and it does not want to repeat the same ads, especially with some criticizing its E3 2018 conference that it was disappointing as it did not contain surprises, as well as Sony was not ready to say anything about the Playstation 5 in 2019 These factors justified their absence last year.
But this year is the year of PlayStation 5, and there should be announcements that the company hides to players from the launch addresses of the new device or the disclosure of its price, which we are all waiting for, which is something Sony usually hides for its conferences in E3, if Sony decides to absent again? There are some points that I would like to raise and consider that they were an influencing factor in this decision:
First - the technical development and spread of broadcasting and its services made many companies depend on broadcasting their own events to the public and they realize that the interested in what you say will follow what is broadcasted wherever it is, this matter relied on by Nintendo a long time ago and it seems that Sony wants to catch up with them through State of Play. Nintendo's experience has proven that it does not need theaters equipped with the latest lighting technology in order for its ads to attract the attention of the masses, and the Nintendo Direct episode of E3 2019 overcame the rest of the conferences in terms of players interest and excitement.
Second - This decision may stem from Sony's great confidence in itself and that it can, through any event, attract the media’s interest tremendously and tremendously, and it suffices to say, for example, that it will announce details about its device in an episode or event on a specific date so that everyone can stand before the screens to see it, so why spend a lot of money To participate in the E3? Here it suffices to mention that Sony's unveiling of the PS5 logo only made it break records via Instagram, so how about if it was about the details of the device? It reminds me of the rockstar strategy that is absent from E3 fairs and only resorting to advertise its games via short videos.
Third - This development made even media professionals prefer, perhaps in conference days, to stay in hotels and rely on the fast internet available to them to watch the conference and cover it in a quieter environment that allows them to coordinate more effectively with the rest of their colleagues, especially after opening the exhibition to the public and not limiting it to the media, which may cause pressure On those.
Fourth - Another point that may be the reason for the decision is that Sony will unveil at a special event in February about its device as the leaks say, but this would have made it keep the price for the E3 exhibition, but the company may have preferred to boycott the exhibition, which would keep it in a circle compared to directly with its competitor, and stay away from it allows it By setting special dates to reveal the details and the price according to the times she chooses, and Microsoft can wait to reveal the price of her device in E3, then she will announce it and repeat what happened with the Playstation 4 and Xbox One, in other words, the issue of timing control and non-compliance with specific dates will give the company more flexibility The margin of movement is wider either Competitor.
Fifthly, the big changes that have taken place in the E3 may have opened the way further to the possibility of leaking conference announcements, and we have seen examples of this before, and Sony never wants to spoil one of its advertisements for the new generation and thus lose its luster before the due date.