In the games industry, when something works, you do it again and again until it stops working. And sometimes you keep doing it even then.
With more than 100 million PS4s sold and a commanding lead over the Xbox One from start to finish this generation, it's fair to say that Sony's marketing plan for the system's launch worked, which is part of what makes Sony's announcement this week that it would be skipping E3 2020 so shocking.
While not entirely unprecedented -- Sony did skip E3 last year as well, after all -- this still represents a massive departure from what worked for the company heading into its last console launch, when the PS4 debuted directly opposite the Xbox One and soundly trounced the competition.
In fact, E3 2013 was perhaps Sony's single most impactful moment in the lead-up to the PlayStation 4 launch. The week before E3, Microsoft confirmed that Xbox One would require an online connection and give publishers the option to disallow second-hand sales of retail games by tying the disc to the first Xbox One that plays it, a massive anti-consumer shift away from the status quo. When Microsoft's press briefing came and went without that elephant being forcibly ejected from the room, Sony took advantage during its own press briefing the next day.



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