Gamescom has never had it easy. Despite the fact that the conference is Europe's biggest video game press event, Gamescom typically falls under the shadow of E3 — as such, the show tends to feel more like a follow-up than its own event.
Much of the show floor is dominated by the same content that gamers and press were treated to back at E3; in fact, the biggest difference between an E3 demo and a Gamescom demo is usually the language of the subtitles. Even if Gamescom has a particularly good showing, it's hard to match the global scale of the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
It's a shame, too: there have been some genuinely great reveals over the past few years, and Gamescom usually serves as the point where behind-closed-doors E3 demos are revealed to the public. It also helps that Microsoft and Sony are both big contributors to the event.
... or at least they used to be. According to French gaming site JeuxVideo, Sony will not be hosting its traditional Gamescom press conference this year. If that's the case, then Sony will be joining Microsoft, as the Xbox One publisher also announced that it would be canceling its press conference in favor of a smaller, "more intimate" event.
As with all rumors, it's important to take the rumors surrounding Sony's Gamescom plans with a grain of salt. The publisher has made no official announcements, so there's a possibility that the news was a simple misunderstanding.
That being said, this wouldn't be the first time that Sony has taken its press conference elsewhere: the publisher skipped out on GamesCom 2015 and attended the Paris Games Week conference instead. Microsoft, on the other hand, held its regular press conference last year, announcing Halo Wars 2.
Granted, it's not as if the publishers are completely ditching Gamescom (Microsoft has confirmed that a number of high-profile games will be playable on the show floor), but losing two of the conference's biggest press conferences is a huge blow to one of the industry's larger events.
On the other hand, it's easy to see why Sony and Microsoft are deciding to ditch their traditional conferences: Gamescom kicks off just two months after E3, meaning that there's no way for publishers or developers to come up with something new in time for the show. Again, Gamescom has had its fair share of big reveals, but it's simply impossible for publishers to come up with something new for most of their games so soon after E3.
The lack of Sony and Microsoft press conferences certainly stings ... but even so, Gamescom 2016 should be worth keeping an eye on when it kicks off on Aug. 17 to 21. We'll update this story if anything new becomes available.
