Destination PlayStation is an annual trade event typically hosted by Sony in February. The event’s behind-closed-doors nature allows retailers and the company’s third-party partners a chance to see what the platform holder has planned throughout the year. Reportedly, Sony won’t host this year’s Destination PlayStation. An unspecified “major distributor” will host the trade event in Sony’s stead. This also fuels speculation that the long-rumored PlayStation 5 reveal event in February is indeed on the cards; thus, the publisher would want to focus its energy on that alone.

Journalist Mike Futter shared news of the alleged Destination PlayStation changes in a brief Twitter thread. In the thread’s second post, Futter claims, “Sony is not hosting Destination PlayStation, its annual closed event bringing together publishers and retailers. The event will still happen…” A subsequent post sees the journalist clarify that a “major distributor” will host the behind-closed-doors trade event.

Futter additionally speculated on the reasoning behind Sony’s sitting on the sidelines for this year’s Destination PlayStation. Again, it could come down to the company potentially hosting a PS5 reveal event next month. If that is the case, Sony would certainly want all eyes focused on one thing. It’s important to remember, however, that there currently exists no concrete evidence to support rumors and speculation about a PS5 reveal in February.

Should Sony truly have plans for a special event next month, news about it will likely surface soon. On January 31, 2013, Sony announced that year’s PlayStation event for the following month. Might history repeat itself? We’ll know for sure in the weeks ahead.

[Source: Mike Futter on Twitter via Video Game Chronicle]