Sony Group is skipping CES 2027, ending a six-decade presence at the Las Vegas electronics showcase that began with the very first Consumer Electronics Show in 1967.
Neither Sony nor any of its affiliates will exhibit at the January event, and the company will not hold its traditional CES press conference — closing the book on one of the most enduring runs in the history of the trade show.
The news was first reported by the Nikkei on September 28 and later confirmed by a Sony spokesperson. It marks a dramatic change for an event where Sony long occupied one of the largest booths on the show floor, drawing some of the biggest crowds with its annual keynote presentations even as Japanese rivals gradually shrank their own footprints.
A Honda-shaped hole in the plan
Signs of the retreat were already visible at CES 2026, where Sony had no booth of its own. Its only presence came from the Sony Honda Mobility joint venture, which displayed the Afeela electric vehicle.
That venture — established in 2022 as one of Sony's most prominent attempts to explore a new platform for content and artificial-intelligence-powered services — unravelled this year, and the two companies said they would reassess its future.
With the car project off the table, CES lost its main anchor for Sony's exhibit strategy. The company had increasingly synced its CES presence with the broader automotive tilt of the show, using the floor to promote its collaboration with Honda on electric vehicles rather than its traditional consumer electronics lineup.
From hardware to entertainment
Sony framed the decision as a strategic rebalancing rather than a retreat.
"We continuously and strategically evaluate our approach to events and communications based on the needs and priorities of our diverse business," the company said in a statement, adding that its focus continues to evolve toward entertainment, intellectual property, and technology geared to support creators.
The shift mirrors Sony's changing business mix. Games, music, and film now drive the company's strategy, reducing the importance of CES as a venue to showcase its direction.
The company remains a key supplier of image sensors used in automobiles, and executives have argued that vehicles could eventually become new forms of entertainment in themselves — but the show floor is no longer where Sony wants to make that case.
CES is not the only fixture Sony has dropped. The company skipped Gamescom 2026 and has not attended that event since 2019, while moving toward digital showcases such as its State of Play broadcasts for PlayStation announcements.
It did keep a large booth at this year's Tokyo Game Show for the third year in a row. Sony has also signalled the end of an era on another front, reportedly planning to stop manufacturing discs for PlayStation consoles from 2028.
CES will feel the gap
Sony's absence will be felt beyond its empty floor space. The company saved some of its most memorable announcements for CES, including the reveal of the PlayStation 5 logo and the PSVR 2 headset — moments that set the tone for the entire tech calendar's opening week.
For CES organizers, the departure of a founding-era exhibitor forces a rethink of a show floor long defined by Sony's massive pavilion. For Sony, it is the clearest signal yet that its future lies in studios, services, and creator ecosystems — not in dominating the convention halls of January.
