For the fourth consecutive year, Sony Interactive Entertainment will not have an official exhibitor presence at Gamescom, the annual video game trade fair held in Cologne, Germany. The company confirmed its absence from the upcoming 2024 event in a statement to German publication Games Wirtschaft.
“Sony Interactive currently has no plans to exhibit at Gamescom 2024,” a Sony representative told the outlet, mirroring nearly identical phrasing used to convey the platform holder’s Gamescom non-attendance in previous years.
While a lack of PlayStation’s first-party studios and upcoming exclusives being promoted on the Gamescom show floor is now commonplace, the decision highlights Sony’s reticence to invest resources into major physical industry exhibitions. Instead, the company has pivoted to favoring digital showcases streamed directly to fans over the internet.
PlayStation’s last substantial presence at Gamescom was in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic upended traditional conventions. Since resuming in-person operations, Sony has opted to skip the costly exhibitor investment at Gamescom and other major events like E3, despite still frequently revealing new trailers and gameplay during adjacent digital livestream showcases.
“Even with PlayStation not being at Gamescom directly, there are almost always things PlayStation-related shown at Gamescom, like last year’s epic Tekken 8 showcase ahead of its January release this year,” noted writer Michael Higham. “So it’ll still be a show to keep an eye on – just don’t expect any major first-party PlayStation news.”
Sony’s exhibitor absence comes as the company forecasts declining PlayStation 5 hardware sales over the next fiscal year ending March 2025. It has also confirmed no “major existing franchise titles” are planned for release during that span, with upcoming first-party offerings like the PSVR2 titles Concord and Astro Bot, as well as the PC port of God of War Ragnarok being its biggest launches teased so far.
While individual third-party publishers and platform partners will still likely feature upcoming PlayStation games at their Gamescom booths, Sony’s decision to forgo its own exhibitor presence deprives the show of one of gaming’s biggest industry heavyweights for the fourth year running.
Joining Sony as a high-profile Gamescom no-show is Nintendo, which also recently confirmed it won’t be exhibiting at the 2024 edition, which runs from August 21-25 following its annual Opening Night Live preview showcase on August 20.
