PlayStation reportedly won’t be at Gamescom 2024, joining the likes of Nintendo in sitting out on this year’s major industry convention held in Cologne, Germany.
Gamescom, which kicks off on 21 August, is host to a massive expo hall, hands-on demos, and Geoff Keighley’s Opening Night Live showcase. In previous years, we’ve seen titles like Cult of the Lamb, Alan Wake 2, and Starfield get a look-in during the presentation. It just so happens that this year, PlayStation looks to not be amongst the packed lineup.
According to German site Games Wirtschaft, Sony reportedly gave a statement confirming that PlayStation “currently has no plans to exhibit at Gamescom 2024.” Whether this extends to Keighley’s ONL or just the showfloor isn’t quite clear just yet.
Nintendo already confirmed it wouldn’t be making an appearance at Gamescom this year either, despite reports of showing the Nintendo Switch 2 behind closed doors at previous years’ events.
The exact reason that PlayStation has once again decided to sit Gamescom out (it also didn’t attend last year) isn’t quite clear. However, we do know that Sony confirmed it had no plans to “release any new major existing franchise titles next fiscal year,” such as another God of War or a new Spider-Man game – so it’s possible that things are too quiet on the home front to warrant the cost of exhibiting this time round. After comparing the reveals from the most recent State of Play to the Summer Game Fest Xbox Games Showcase, it’s pretty clear Sony is laying low for now.
This isn’t the first expo big publishers have sat out from – we need only cast our eye to PAX Aus (which is decidedly smaller than Gamescom), which saw PlayStation and Xbox notably absent in recent years, and Nintendo only making a return last year. Sony seems to be favouring the digital showcase approach over in-person exhibiting, whether due to the astronomical costs versus audience reach or otherwise.
With two of the big three reportedly out of Gamescom 2024 two months before the expo begins, all eyes turn to Xbox to see what their move is – generally, the publisher has a pretty major presence at the German expo, so it would stand to reason that this won’t change in 2024. The full exhibitor list for the event is yet to be revealed, but it looks like we’ll be seeing a quieter one this time around, in at least some respects.
Image: Gamescom / Sony / Kotaku Australia
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