For a while now PlayStation fans have been wondering what’s up with 2018’s PlayStation Experience, PlayStation’s annual fan event, since Sony still hadn’t announced dates for it. Today, Shawn Layden, the head of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, explained that it’s not happening this year.
“For 2018, I know this is going to be a disappointment for some people, but we’ve decided not to hold PlayStation Experience this year,” Layden said in an appearance on the latest episode of the PlayStation Blogcast. The executive noted that a lot of the company’s big games, like Spider-Man, released this year, and when it came to 2019 Layden only mentioned Days Gone and Dreams, two games that have already been shown a lot and are close to release.
“We wouldn’t have enough to bring people all together in some location in North America to have that event,” he said. “We don’t want to set expectations really high and then not deliver on it.”
The news comes a few days after Microsoft announced that it will be holding its on Xbox-centered event, X018, in Mexico City on November 10 alongside its fourth annual FanFest.
PlayStation Experience, called PSX for short, has been happening annually in North America for the past four years, starting in 2014 with the 20th anniversary of the PS1. It usually includes a short showcase event with new game announcements and trailer reveals. The fact that there’s no event this year seems to imply that Sony isn’t currently sitting on any big new projects it’s ready to show.
Even last year’s PSX was a relatively quiet affair with no big new announcements. The one piece of information PS4 owners had been eager for was regarding PSN name changes. Currently, the service still doesn’t let users change their handles, no matter how ridiculous or offensive they are. At PSX 2017, Kinda Funny Games’ Greg Miller pressed Layden on the issue during an on-stage interview.
Layden wouldn’t commit, but he hedged enough to give fans hope. “Let me put it this way: I hope we’ll see events occur so that you don’t have to ask me that question next PSX,” he said.
It looks like he got his wish.