So, where do you stand on Sony’s decision to skip E3 2019? That one’s been discussed up and down on the internet in the last few days, and now analyst extraordinaire Michael Pachter has waded in. Spoiler: he’s on the not-such-a-great-idea side.

That’s right, friends. As we reported late last week, PlayStation have announced that they’re not going to be attending E3 2019. This is a bold move for the company, who are breaking a 24-year streak (that’s every E3 to date) of showing off their wares on the big stage.

As far as their reasoning goes, the gaming giant cited a desire to “experiment with new ways to delight gamers.” Long-time PlayStation fans surely had all kinds of mixed feelings on hearing this news, but can rest assure that the company have committed to “exploring new and familiar ways to engage our community in 2019.” Whatever that means.

There are all kinds of ways to interpret this, and many have considered it as a sign of a lack of confidence on Sony’s part. This may not be the case. As Gaming Bolt reports, the company certainly have some big-ticket items on the horizon, with the likes of Death Stranding and the next slice of The Last of Us (in the shape of The Last Of Us: Part Two) in the pipeline.

For Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, though, it definitely is the lack of titles to showcase. “It is because of the timing of new games. They just don’t have a lot of new things to announce in June,” he said scathingly. Face-saving gesture it may be, but Pachter still thinks that not attending at all is a bad idea. “I think it’s a mistake to skip the show,” he went on. “They will probably be there without a big booth. It was a surprise to me.”

Now, as everyone who’s been around the video game world for a while will know, Pachter is not a man to hold back his opinions. When he thinks something is a bad idea, he’s darn well going to make sure you know it. It’s too early to say whether Sony actually have some creative new plan in mind or whether they’re just chickening out, so we’ll have to wait and see if this bold new gamble pays off.

Or even if it’ll be as huge a move as it may seem. After all, as Pachter points out, they didn’t say that they won’t be at the show at all. In the meantime, though, Xbox and Nintendo seem to be happy taking snide little digs at Sony for their decision. Did they mention that they ARE going to E3 2019? Because they totally are.