Sony Pulls Out of CES for the First Time Since 1967

Sony will not be at CES in January 2027, ending a run of appearances that stretches all the way back to the show's first edition in 1967. The company confirmed the decision to Bloomberg, saying it followed a strategic review of how it approaches events and communications based on the needs and priorities of its diverse business.

Sony added that its emphasis today is on entertainment, a bucket that covers games, anime, films and music. CES, by contrast, is mainly a consumer technology trade show, which helps explain why the fit is no longer as natural. For PlayStation fans, the practical upshot is that there will be no PlayStation news coming directly from Sony at the Las Vegas event, which runs January 6 to 9.

The show has never been where the biggest PlayStation reveals happened, but it did serve up a few notable moments. In 2020, then-PlayStation chief Jim Ryan used the CES stage to show off the PS5 logo. Fans were hungry for real details about the console at the time, and many mocked Sony for offering nothing more than a logo that looked exactly as expected. The release date, price and technical specifics were held back for later events built around the system.

At CES 2022, Sony had a meatier announcement, unveiling PlayStation VR2 alongside a new game for the headset, Horizon: Call of the Mountain. In the years since, its PlayStation-related CES news leaned toward transmedia projects, including the announcements of Horizon and Helldivers movies. Sony's presence typically centered on a keynote with executives and creative leads discussing upcoming technology and products.

Other platform holders have their own history with the show. Microsoft revealed the original Xbox at CES 2001 with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on stage, though it never repeated a splash of that size at later editions. Nintendo showed the first version of the NES at CES in 1984, when it was still a prototype called the Advanced Video System.

With Sony stepping back, CES 2027 loses one of its longest-standing exhibitors. Whatever PlayStation and Sony's entertainment arms have to announce next will now have to come through channels the company controls itself.