Industry stalwart Geoff Keighley, also the executive producer and host of The Game Awards, will not be attending E3 this year, his first in over 25 years.

This news comes to us via a Twitter post from Keighley, announcing his decision and consequently, him not producing E3 Coliseum as well.

I wanted to share some important news about my plans around E3 2020. pic.twitter.com/EhrreKV9oR

— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) February 12, 2020

In a statement to Gamesindustry.biz, Keighley had some choice statements about his decision:

“Given what has been publicly communicated about plans for E3 2020, I just don’t feel comfortable participating in the show at this time…”

“I saw the E3 website leak this AM and said, “You know what, I really need to let people know what to expect from me, so no one is disappointed.” This certainly wasn’t an easy decision to make, but I think it’s the right one for me — and I wanted fans to know before tickets go on sale.”

“I absolutely think there’s a way forward for the brand of E3. This is just my take, but I think E3 needs to be more digital, global and inclusive in its approach to connecting gamers and celebrating the industry. “

With Sony skipping E3 2020 as well, that now makes two rather big figures in the industry dropping out of the show. Microsoft has made it known that they will continue to support E3 this year and it would be safe to assume that other companies like Nintendo, Ubisoft, Activision, and others would do the same.

Is E3, the annual show once considered to be the greatest time of the year for video games, on a steep decline considering this should have been the event where the next generation consoles would have been announced? Will we see another E3 next year given the recent turn of events? Let us know what you think!

E3 2020 is expected to run from June 9-11 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.