Sony to Skip CES Show After Honda EV Venture Dropped

Sony Group Corp. is skipping the CES technology show in 2027, ending a decades-long presence at the Las Vegas electronics showcase in favor of a growing focus on entertainment content.

Neither Sony, whose products were first displayed at the inaugural conference in 1967, nor its affiliates plan to exhibit at CES in January, a spokesperson said, confirming an earlier report by the Nikkei. The PlayStation creator did not have its own booth at the show earlier this year, but its joint venture with Honda Motor Co. displayed the Afeela electric vehicle, a joint venture that has since been scrapped.

The decision to skip CES entirely will reconfigure the show floor at the world’s highest-profile gathering for consumer electronics. Sony has long occupied one of the largest booths at CES, and even as Japanese peers reduced their footprint, it remained a mainstay and attracted large crowds with its keynote events.

Sony also synced up with the broader trend across CES toward the automotive sector, using the show to promote its collaboration with Honda to jointly develop EVs. That project — one of Sony’s most prominent attempts to explore a new platform for content and AI-powered services — unraveled this year and the two companies said they would reassess the future of their joint venture, established in 2022.

“We continuously and strategically evaluate our approach to events and communications based on the needs and priorities of our diverse business,” Sony said in a statement. The company’s focus continues to evolve toward entertainment, intellectual property and technology geared to support creators, it said.

Sony’s business has shifted increasingly toward games, music and film, reducing the importance of CES as a venue to display its strategy. The company remains a key supplier of image sensors used in automobiles, and executives have argued that vehicles could eventually help create new forms of entertainment inside cars.