Nintendo Germany announced in April that it would be skipping Gamescom this year. Rather than appearing at the massive German trade show, the company revealed that it would instead feature the 3DS, Wii, and Wii U across multiple smaller events around the country.

Two other companies are now following suit and will not showcase their upcoming content at Gamescom either. THQ is the first of these, opting to stay away from the show floor entirely. According to GamesIndustry, the company is likely making this decision due to its recent financial losses. And while THQ won’t be on the show floor, it’s very possible that it will still conduct meetings within small conference rooms at the venue, akin to what it will be doing at E3 next month.

The second company that will not be making its presence felt at the massive European trade show is Sega. “Unfortunately the release timing of our 2012 AAA titles and new projects don’t work with the mid- August scheduling of the show,” Sega told GamesIndustry. “The decision will not mean that Sega will never attend Gamescom in the future, this was simply a commercial decision made for 2012.”

Gamescom is a huge event, so to see such major players like Nintendo, THQ, and Sega deciding to miss it is a bit strange.  Still, when you take into account that Nintendo wants to have small dedicated events for its hardware; that THQ simply can’t afford to appear; and that the timing isn’t in Sega’s favor, it definitely makes sense.

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