E3 2019 is less than a month away, and the plans (or lack thereof) of game developers/publishers are coming to light. The official show floor plans for the upcoming event has revealed that both Activision and EA will not have a public show booth for the first time in years (via Variety).

While both companies have opted out of public show booths, they will still have a presence at E3 2019 by holding private meetings with the media instead, just like it was before the event starting becoming open to the public several years ago.

Speaking with GameIndustry.biz, an Activision representative said:

“While we won’t have a traditional space on the show floor, we look forward to participating at E3 across a number of activities.”

Although Activision’s plans sound vague at this point, EA already has plans for an exclusive live-stream event called EA Play, which will take place from 7 to 9 June 2019 at the Hollywood Palladium, merely days before E3 2019 is scheduled to take place from 10 to 13 June at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

With two major publishers like Activision and EA deciding not to have their traditional presence at E3 2019, not to mention Sony’s move to skip the event entirely, it brings to mind questions about whether the event remains relevant.

The waning interest of video game developers and publishers for what was once the biggest gaming event in the world (and arguably still is) may mean that the event won’t be as important as it was all these years.

Will E3 2019 still prove to be significant enough with the absence of all these major companies in the games industry? We’ll soon have the answer to that next month.