PlayStation Experience, the yearly convention held by Sony to celebrate the PlayStation brand and show off new games, is not being held this year, according to Sony Interactive Entertainment chairman Shawn Layden. Layden confirmed the news on the PSBlogcast today, suggesting that there just isn’t enough to show this year.
“Now that we have Spider-Man out the door, we’re looking down in 2019 to games like Dreams and Days Gone, but we wouldn’t have enough to bring people together in some location in North America to have that event,” Layden said. “We don’t want to set expectations really high and then not deliver on it.”
The convention has been held in North America since 2014, with both large and small announcements from Sony over the years. Last year took a left turn to a smaller, more intimate chat instead of a larger stage show, focusing less on announcements and more on talking to developers, which turned out to disappoint a number of fans. With the convention taking place so close to The Game Awards, trailers were even repurposed and shown again without new content.
Regardless, fans had noticed that Sony did not announce PlayStation Experience details by their usual schedule, so the cancellation is not shocking to many. It is unknown if the convention will return in later years, but Layden did not close that door completely.
Source: Game Informer No PlayStation Experience Convention In 2018