Until not that long ago, Sony and PlayStation were essentially synonymous with E3. They’d been major fixtures at the event every year since its inception, which is why their announcement that they would be skipping the show in 2019 came as a huge surprise. Meanwhile, E3 2020 was cancelled due to COVID, but even before that, Sony had already confirmed that they wouldn’t be in attendance once again, while E3 2021 was the third consecutive year that PlayStation wasn’t at E3.
There are differing opinions on whether or not Sony has been prudent to leave E3 out of its strategy, but one person who is completely against is is industry analyst Michael Pachter. In a recent Pachter Factor episode on SIFTD Games, the analyst was outspoken about his thoughts on the matter, saying that Sony was making a “a huge strategic error abandoning E3” and that the money they were saving as a result wasn’t worth what they were letting go.
“I think Sony is taking a wrong direction,” Pachter said. “I think they are making a huge strategic error abandoning E3. I think that is just the wrong thing to do, and I’m hopeful that they figure it out and they come back next year.”
“Somebody convinced them that they’ll save 20 million bucks by skipping E3, and this year’s E3 maybe that was a prudent decision,” he continued. “They skipped the one prior as well. And I think it’s just a bad move. Really dumb strategy. Because you can’t buy that much press for 20 million bucks. Having an event and getting all your fans to focus on that single event is really, really powerful, and I think that whoever’s advising their management that skipping E3 is a cost-conscious move and smart is just wrong. They’re just dumb.”
Pachter concluded: “My bias is Sony is and will continue to be the biggest loser at E3 by skipping the show, and I think they really should wake up and recognize that it’s an opportunity for them to showcase their games – and they’re very good – and their hardware – which is very good – to the world when the world is paying attention. I hope they’re back in 2022. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.”
This isn’t the first time that Pachter has been critical of Sony’s decision to skip E3. Back in 2019, when Sony first dropped out of E3, Pachter said, “I think they’re fools to bypass the show.” Read more on that through here.
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