Sony will skip CES 2027, a decision that looks at first like an event-marketing change but in fact captures one of the most consequential corporate transformations in modern Japan.
Bloomberg reported on September 28, after an earlier Nikkei report, that neither Sony Group nor its affiliates plan to exhibit at the January show. A Sony representative confirmed the decision and said the company continually evaluates events and communications according to the priorities of its different businesses.[1]
For decades, CES was a natural stage for Sony. Televisions, audio products, cameras, compact discs and other electronics helped define the company internationally. Today, Sony’s own strategy documents put different words at the center: entertainment, intellectual property, creators and creation technology.[2]
The absence from CES is therefore less a sudden retreat than a visible consequence of a portfolio shift that has been unfolding for years.
A useful historical correction: Sony did not formally begin exhibiting in 1967
Some accounts describe the 2027 decision as ending a CES run that began with the first show in 1967. Sony’s own history is more precise. Sony products were displayed at the inaugural CES in New York in 1967, but Sony says its first formal exhibition was at the Summer CES in Chicago in June 1977.[3]
That makes the symbolism no less significant. The relationship between Sony products and CES spans roughly six decades; Sony’s formal exhibiting history spans almost half a century.
In 1982, Sony used the Summer CES to show a “Future Corner” containing the world’s first CD player shortly before launch and a prototype Mavica electronic still camera. CES was not merely a sales convention. It was a place where Sony showed the world what kind of technology company it intended to become next.[3]
Akio Morita was talking about “creative entertainment” at CES in 1990
There is a striking historical irony in Sony’s departure. In 1990, Sony chairman Akio Morita became the first Japanese executive to deliver a CES keynote. Sony’s retrospective notes that Morita suggested the initials CES might one day be read not as “Consumer Electronics Show” but as “Creative Entertainment Show.”[3]
By then, Sony was already becoming more than an electronics producer. It had formed CBS/Sony Records in Japan in 1968, acquired CBS Records in 1988, bought Columbia Pictures in 1989 and would launch the original PlayStation in 1994. Sony’s official corporate history shows that hardware and content have been converging inside the company for decades.[4]
Entertainment is now explicit corporate strategy
In its 2025 corporate strategy, Sony said the long-running shift toward entertainment had transformed the group and contributed to strong results. Game & Network Services, Music and Pictures together accounted for more than 60% of consolidated sales at that point.[5]
The 2026 strategy went further. President and CEO Hiroki Totoki described Sony’s direction around entertainment, IP, content creation and real-time creation technology. Anime was identified as a major growth area, and Sony said Crunchyroll had surpassed 21 million paid subscribers worldwide by the end of March 2026.[2]
Capital allocation tells the same story. Sony has deepened its relationship with Bandai Namco Holdings, raised its stake in Peanuts Holdings, and continued investing in music intellectual property, including the Pink Floyd and Queen catalogs.[2]
This is not a retreat from technology
It would be misleading to interpret the CES decision as Sony abandoning technology. Its 2026 strategy includes continued investment in advanced image sensors and a memorandum of understanding with TSMC toward a strategic partnership for next-generation sensor development and manufacturing, potentially using Sony’s new plant in Koshi, Kumamoto Prefecture.[2]
What has changed is the role technology plays in the portfolio. In its 2025 strategy, Sony said its Entertainment Technology & Services products and services were shifting toward content creation. Alpha cameras, sports data, real-time VFX and spatial-content tools were framed increasingly as infrastructure for creators rather than simply consumer gadgets.[5]
Even television is moving from ownership toward partnership
Television is one of the businesses most closely associated with Sony’s identity. The company introduced compact transistor televisions in 1960 and the Trinitron color television in 1968.[4]
Yet in March 2026, Sony and TCL Electronics Holdings signed definitive agreements to reorganize Sony’s home-entertainment business into a joint venture. The planned company would inherit development, design, manufacturing, sales, logistics and customer service for BRAVIA consumer televisions, business displays, projectors and home-audio equipment. TCL would hold 51% and Sony 49%.[6]
The BRAVIA name is not disappearing. But the structure marks a substantial departure from the older model in which Sony itself owned and operated a broad hardware portfolio end to end.
Finance was spun off so capital could concentrate on creation
The portfolio reshaping reaches far beyond electronics. In 2025, Sony completed a partial spin-off of Sony Financial Group, distributing more than 80% of the subsidiary’s shares to Sony shareholders. Sony explicitly said one purpose was to specialize its own portfolio around creation and concentrate capital allocation on its three entertainment businesses and image sensors.[7]
Viewed individually, these moves can look unrelated: a financial spin-off, a television joint venture, music-catalog investments, anime expansion and now withdrawal from CES. Viewed together, they show where Sony wants ownership, capital and management attention to accumulate.
Afeela removed one more reason to be on the CES floor
Sony’s own CES presence had already narrowed. At CES 2026, Sony did not operate a traditional standalone booth; Sony Honda Mobility’s Afeela electric vehicle carried much of the group’s physical presence, according to Bloomberg.[1]
That project changed dramatically months later. On March 25, Sony and Honda announced that development and launch of AFEELA 1 and a second model would be discontinued after Honda reassessed its electrification strategy amid changes in the EV market. On April 21, Sony, Honda and Sony Honda Mobility said the existing framework made it difficult to bring products and services consistent with the venture’s founding purpose to market in the short to medium term.[8][9]
Afeela had been especially well suited to CES because it combined mobility, sensors, software and entertainment. Its cancellation removed one of the clearest reasons for Sony’s group to maintain a major physical presence at the show. Sony, however, has not said that the EV cancellation alone caused the CES decision; its public explanation is broader and tied to business priorities and communications strategy.[1]
From a company that needed the trade-show audience to one that owns audiences
The business model has changed along with the portfolio. PlayStation reaches users directly through its network. Crunchyroll has recurring subscribers and anime fandom communities. Sony Music manages artists, publishing rights and catalogs. Sony Pictures owns and develops film and television franchises.
A consumer-electronics manufacturer once depended heavily on retailers, distributors, journalists and giant trade fairs to introduce products to a global market. An entertainment and platform company can speak to fans through its own digital channels, services, communities and events.
That does not make CES irrelevant. It makes CES less essential to Sony than it once was.
Leaving CES may actually bring Sony closer to Morita’s old idea
Thirty-six years after Akio Morita mused about a “Creative Entertainment Show,” Sony’s own long-term corporate vision is called the “Creative Entertainment Vision.” It imagines Sony supporting creators with technology, connecting physical and digital experiences and maximizing the value of intellectual property.[10]
The company has not become a pure media conglomerate. It still makes cameras, gaming hardware, sensors and other physical products. Hardware remains an important gateway into Sony experiences.
But the language that defines the center of the company has changed. The Sony that once filled a giant CES booth with the newest machines increasingly organizes itself around creators, IP, fans and platforms.
When CES 2027 opens without Sony’s name on the exhibition floor, the empty space will tell a corporate-history story of its own.
