In case you missed the news, Sony is skipping E3 again. Last year, Sony shocked the gaming world when the PlayStation maker decided that E3 wasn’t a necessary part of its marketing plans. Sony, dominant as they are, don’t really need a big three-day industry event to get the eyeballs on their games or their impending new hardware. In this hyper-connected world, it’s cheaper, easier and generally less stressful to just beam a video to the entire world; something Nintendo learned when they stopped hosting a great big press conference at E3 opting instead for their now adored Nintendo Directs.

Many big industry players are giving E3 a skip this year, leading to questions of the show's relevance.