So Sony won't be participating in the E3 2021 (June 12-15) digital event this year. Even before the pandemic hit Sony had decided to pull out of E3 last year. Nintendo, Microsoft and other major publishers will be participating.

Last year even though E3 was cancelled it was largely expected that Sony (and others) would host their own digital showcase to reveal the PS5 and share details ahead of its launch.

Since the PS5 has already launched and there is no need to reveal new hardware do we still expect Sony to have a dedicated show this summer to reveal upcoming games and projects? If so, when would they do it?

I expect they would wait a few weeks after E3 after the other companies have already had their showings. That way they could have the spotlight for themselves.

Or do people expect nothing but some State of the Play videos throughout the year?

Thoughts?

I am guessing not since they just announced a State of Play for this Thursday for Horizon Forbidden West. If they were having a summer showcase they probably would have just held off on showing Horizon for that.

to me I feel like E3 is seen more as a general timeframe at this point rather than a single composed event like it used to be, like yeah Sony, EA, and other companies aren't technically "part" of E3 itself during some of the past few years but they still specifically plan their own events/info drops around the same time frame to go along with the "big summer news " where all the eyes will be to the point where it essentially feels like the same thing. just sort of feels like arguing semantics at that point.

in terms of this year tho I hope so, outside of the Horizon state of play this Thursday we still don't know enough concrete info about the rest coming for this year. they have a slate of games already announced but we still don't know proper dates for most of them like God of War or if they're still even on track for this year

I think its very likely.

HFW having its own dedicated SoP could mean that Sony's next showcase is absolutely stacked! We shouldn't underestimate Sony's second/third party relationships. As we saw with MediEvil & Sackboy, I wouldn't be surprised to see some older IP's being outsourced. We also got a variety of third party exclusives like SF6 that could be revealed, major third party announcements, as well as Sony's own first party.

It would be extremely disappointing if Sony opted to do a bunch of SoP's rather than a major showcase sprinkled in with a few SoP's across the year.

They would be stupid not to have one, but perhaps they are stupid. I really don't like their tactic of playing their cards so close to their chest very much. But the Horizon SoP does not give me any confidence that they are changing their ways in this regard. To think their showcase will be so dense that they rather show Horizon now seems a bit overly optimistic to me. I take this much rather as a sign of things not to come.

But boy I do hope I'm wrong on this one. If I take an honest look at what I enjoy about video games, following the news and watching big events stacks suprisingly high. And sadly there was not that much of this to enjoy from Sony as of late. But credit where it is due, the two PS5 showcases were pretty cool.

I don't think so. IIRC, Sony didn't have a digital event near E3 2019. They had an event near E3 2020, but that was to show off an entirely new console and games.

I think this idea that them showing Horizon now means their show is stacked is not necessarily so. I guess it COULD be, but it is more likely that they simply want to go over details of that game in-depth like they did for The Last of Us 2 and Ghost of Tsushima.

My prediction, Sony is going to rely on the third party partnerships to fill out some of this year, as a few of their key games have been delayed (Gran Turismo and I believe God of War: Ragnarok). Ratchet and Clank comes in June, and I believe Horizon will come just a few months after since they are providing such an in-depth look at the game. They will have another State of Play around August showcasing more games.

Label don't matter. It can be called E3 or Gamesfest or anything else as long as there is a showcase. Essentially this just means Sony is not paying a middle company to host a show, and they are doing it all themselves.

This year is sorted pretty much. Probably will get a little more on Horizon, Stray, TLOU2 PS5 edition launching with DLC and MP mode and will close off with a GOW trailer. However main focus will be on end of year and end of spring.

Wonder if Ghostwire Tokyo will get less love now that they are owned by MS.