Activision joins EA in abandoning the Electronic Entertainment Expo’s show floor

The publisher exodus from one of the gaming industry’s biggest trade events continues.

Activision announced today that it is going to have the new Call of Duty game from developer Infinity Ward at the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade show in June, but the military shooter will only show up in Sony’s booth. That’s because Activision will not have a space of its own at E3 2016. This means that the two biggest console and PC gaming publishers are no longer an official part of the trade show. With companies like Electronic Arts and Activision constantly building more efficient ways to communicate with both gaming fans and business partners, it seems like many have decided that spending millions of dollars to fight for attention in a crowded room no longer makes sense.

Activision is not, however, leaving the Entertainment Software Association that organizes E3. The company plans to use the Los Angeles Convention Center to hold meetings with media, clients, and partners.

Here’s how Activision explained its move from today’s blog post:

“In June, we’re going to be at E3 showcasing gameplay from Infinity Ward’s ambitious new game. We’re looking forward to sharing exciting new details about the next great Call of Duty game in partnership with our friends at PlayStation. We’re proud to be participating in this premier video game event, but won’t have an Activision booth on the show floor.”

Activision, especially, has few reasons to go big at E3. It has Sony to promote Call of Duty and its sci-fi shooter Destiny, and the company’s other, smaller games — like Skylanders — don’t drive a lot of foot traffic.

This announcement comes after Madden and Need for Speed publisher EA revealed in January that it won’t have its booth at this year’s E3. Instead, the gaming giant revealed the EA Play event for both industry and fans, who are not allowed onto the E3 floor, on the days leading up to the event.

EA will still have a media briefing where it talks about all of its upcoming games. Activision usually does not have one of these — instead, it works with platform companies like Sony and Microsoft to get its properties on stage in front of media and gamers watching at home.