Just like the industry it self has whittled down over the years, the video game convention circuit is also starting to whittle down and Gamescom might be the next victim. Microsoft is joining Nintendo in announcing that they will not be at this years convention in Cologne, Germany.

Major Nelson released this statement on his blog:

“As you saw at E3, we have a solid line-up of games launching this holiday, along with other entertainment experiences. We’ve changed our approach a little, though. This year, Xbox will be focusing on smaller, more localized promotions and experiences for press, partners, retailers and customers around the world. Which means that as you might have seen on some of the news sites today, we won’t be taking part in Gamescom or Tokyo Games Show this year.”

That leads us to the other big news, they will also not be attending the Tokyo game show. This one makes sense as the Xbox 360 has little to no exposure in the Japanese market. It is completely dominated by Sony and Nintendo. But with Microsoft’s recent efforts to get a bigger presence in Europe, I’m surprised that they are pulling out.

Sony remains the only console developer that has neither confirmed or denied whether they are attending. We do know that they do not have a contract to attend the German gaming convention and now I wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled out. It is all up to publishers now to make this conference special.