With E3 less than a month away, the plans for the show are starting to becoming finalized. Activision’s E3 plans have been announced, and the company is taking a step back from E3 2019. It will still be present at the show, but it will not have a public booth. Instead, Activision has opted to hold private meetings with the media at E3 2019. Traditionally, the gaming giant has had a public booth where fans can come by and try out game demos and get some cool swag. However, that will not be the case this year, and it is another major hit for E3 2019.
An Activision representative told GameIndustry.biz that “While we won’t have a traditional space on the show floor, we look forward to participating at E3 across a number of activities.” The representative is likely referring to E3 Coliseum, which will be hosting a Call of Duty panel. It is expected that the panel will take a look at the future of the franchise, however it is unclear if it will feature any major announcements.
While Activision’s E3 plans are a bit strange, since the company will be at E3 but not in the traditional sense, it is not the only company to take a step back from the biggest gaming event of the year. Both EA and Sony are looking at other options, with Sony skipping E3 altogether and EA having similar plans to Activision in addition to its EA Play event.
For the first time ever, Sony has decided to totally abandon E3 and host its own event, similar to that of a Nintendo Direct. It remains unclear what Sony plans to do, but I would expect it to be similar to their recent State of Play livestreams. EA, on the other hand, is hosting a big event, EA Play, which will host tons of gameplay livestreams a few days before E3. Similar to Activision’s E3 plans, EA will not be holding a big press conference at E3 2019.
