E3 quietly pulled its official show trailer to remove PS5
Organiser re-edited video hours after posting; Sony is skipping the event for the third year in a row
E3 organiser The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) pulled its official show trailer on Friday to remove a sequence featuring PlayStation 5.
The official E3 2021 trailer was published at 12pm ET on Friday, but just a few hours later it was pulled and replaced with a re-edited version, which removed a sequence in which a player is shown holding a PS5 DualSense controller.
All of the other controllers featured in the video (for Nintendo Switch, Oculus Quest and Xbox Series X|S) remain in the updated version.
You can see both versions below (original, followed by the new version):
VGC has requested comment from The ESA on this story.
It’s not clear why the organiser decided to pull and re-edit the video just hours after publishing it, but it’s possibly due to the fact that PlayStation is not participating in this year’s digital E3 2021 show.
Sony Interactive Entertainment was a surprise omission from 2019’s E3 event and the platform holder isn’t participating in this year’s event either.
E3 2020 was cancelled entirely due to the pandemic, but SIE still made clear it didn’t plan to attend that year either, before it was officially called off.
In a statement issued following 2020’s news, Sony claimed it did not feel that “the vision” of E3 2020 was right for what it had planned for the year.
“After thorough evaluation SIE has decided not to participate in E3 2020,” a spokesperson said. “We have great respect for the ESA as an organization, but we do not feel the vision of E3 2020 is the right venue for what we are focused on this year.”
further reading
E3 2021 and Summer Game Fest schedule: Your complete guide
Sony had attended every E3 show prior to its surprise omission in 2019.
E3 2021 runs from June 12-15 and will include a four-day live broadcast featuring publisher showcases, press conferences, industry panels and livestreams.
On June 12, the schedule includes press conferences from Ubisoft and Gearbox Entertainment, while June 13 features the Xbox and Bethesda Games showcase, a presentation from Square Enix, and the PC Gaming Show, which will include a Steam related announcement from Valve.
June 14 will include press conferences from several indie developers, a Take-Two panel and a Capcom showcase, while the final day of the show will feature a Nintendo Direct and a Namco Bandai event.
The ESA has said that future E3 shows are expected to be hybrid ones combining physical events with a digital component.
