Sony is going to skip E3 gaming expo, again

Sony will not be participating in this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) gaming expo. This is the second time in a row the PlayStation maker has skipped the world's biggest gaming conference.

"After thorough evaluation SIE has decided not to participate in E3 2020. 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," a Sony Interactive spokesperson told The Verge.

It is worth noting that Sony is going to launch PlayStation 5 later this year. The company earlier this month unveiled a new logo for the PS5 logo and confirmed holiday 2020 release for the gaming console. Right now, it's not clear whether Sony is going to host a separate event to showcase the new gaming console.

"We will build upon our global events strategy in 2020 by participating in hundreds of consumer events across the globe. Our focus is on making sure fans feel part of the PlayStation family and have access to play their favorite content. We have a fantastic line up of titles coming to PlayStation 4, and with the upcoming launch of PlayStation 5, we are truly looking forward to a year of celebration with our fans," the spokesperson added.  

The Verge points out Microsoft chose to showcase the upcoming Xbox Series X during a lower-profile Game Awards last month. The Xbox maker, however, has confirmed it will be present at the E3 2020 edition, which is scheduled take place between June 9 and June 11 in Los Angeles.

Phil Spencer of Microsoft's Xbox team said in a tweet, "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."

That said, Sony had been a regular at the E3 until 2019. Last year, the company surprised everyone when it announced the decision to skip the conference. Sony at the time said it had nothing new to showcase at the June event and that it had already planned an event in February.