It seems Sony is making some changes to their big PlayStation E3 showcase. In recent years, Sony has focused on game announcements, showing dozens of titles during their main E3 presentation and pre-show, but at E3 2018 they’re going to be drilling down on a small handful of major exclusives — specifically, Death Stranding, Spider-Man, The Last of Us Part II, and Ghost of Tsushima. In fact, it isn’t entirely clear whether Sony will be doing a traditional live E3 presentation at all this year.
SIE Worldwide Studios boss Shawn Layden laid out Sony’s E3 2018 plans during the latest episode of the PlayStation Blogcast…
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“We continue to try to refresh and remake and reignite what we do at the what used to be called a press conference for E3. We want to make sure that it’s fresh and reflects the kind of stories we’re telling and the new entertainment we have to give to our fans, not just at the event, but worldwide with streaming.
E3 will include exclusive looks and deep dives on four of our upcoming big titles [Death Stranding, Spider-Man, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us Part II]. We’re taking kind of a different angle on how we’re bringing it out. We’ll also have some announcements with our third-party publishing partners and our continued support for independent development.”
Layden also shot down the possibility of a PS5 tease or announcement.
“We’re going to be focusing on our great content, there will be no new hardware announcement at E3 this year. You heard it here first.”
If Sony does do away with the traditional live E3 presentation this year, they won’t be the first. Nintendo broke that ground several years ago when they switched to doing pre-recorded Nintendo Spotlight presentations, and other publishers like Bethesda and Devolver Digital have followed suit. Of course, Sony may still do a live presentation of some sort, but it definitely sounds like it won’t be the “parade of guys on a stage announcing games” format we’ve come to expect.
What do you think? Are you excited to see deeper dives for games like Death Stranding and The Last of Us Part II, or will you miss the excitement of the classic Sony E3 press conference?
The PlayStation E3 2018 Showcase is scheduled for Monday, June 11 at 6pm PT.
