Sony Interactive Entertainment has confirmed it will not host a conference at E3 2019, nor will it appear on the show floor. It’ll be the first time PlayStation hasn’t been present during E3’s entire 24-year history.

“As the industry evolves, Sony Interactive Entertainment continues to look for inventive opportunities to engage the community,” wrote a Sony representative in a statement. “PlayStation fans mean the world to us and we always want to innovate, think differently and experiment with new ways to delight gamers. As a result, we have decided not to participate in E3 in 2019. We are exploring new and familiar ways to engage our community in 2019 and can’t wait to share our plans with you.”

There are a couple of potential reasons behind this. First is that Sony doesn’t actually have anything worthwhile to show. We saw at E3 2018 that Sony had a curiously threadbare line-up, and perhaps 2019 is even weaker.

The second, I think far more likely scenario, is that Sony is gearing up for the reveal of the PlayStation 5 in 2019. Either Sony wants its own PlayStation showcase away from E3, or the next-gen console simply isn’t going to be ready to show by next June. Rather than host an event for the dregs of its PS4 line-up, it would make sense to hold fire until it’s good and ready to unveil the new console.

Over on Kotaku, they claim their sources have said the PS5 is on course to launch in early 2020, and an early reveal could take place next summer ahead of a massive blow-out at PlayStation Experience (PSX) at the tail-end of 2019. A separate Reddit rumour suggests there may be two PSX-style events which tallies up with this. They also claim PlayStation 5 development kits are already in studio’s hands and that it is “a beast”. Square Enix’s Final Fantasy studio, Luminous Productions, has already accidentally let slip it’s working on a PS5 title.

It all kind of adds up, but what are your thoughts on this move? How will Sony push a PS5, do you think 4K 60fps is going to be the minimum expectation?