Article has been update.


With growing concerns over the coronavirus spreading around the world, a lot developers are pulling out of some big upcoming conventions. 

PAX East being one such event, with Sony, Facebook Gaming, CD Projekt Red, and Capcom pulling out of the event and with Square-Enix announcing that they are limiting their presence at the event. Square had a huge Final Fantasy 14 event planned for PAX this year, and has since cancelled this event along with any panels associated with it.

The Mayor of Boston Marty Walsh even reached out to Sony saying that their city is safe while getting no reply back from Sony President Kenichiro Yoshida. 

 

GDC has probably been hit the hardest of anybody else.

These are the company's who are no longer attending GDC this year. 

  • Amazon Gaming
  • Sony
  • MS
  • Epic & Unreal Engine
  • Unity Technologies
  • EA
  • Facebook Gaming & Oculus Gaming
  • Kojima Productions
  • Kowloon Nights
  • CD Projekt Red
  • Mobile World Congress

And as of 4:00 EST, Blizzard Entertainment has officially pulled out of GDC this year. 

I am expecting GDC to be cancelled this year. None of the big names are going to be there for the event, and with the mayor of San Francisco declaring a state of emergency for the city. All nonessential personal will not be able to provide any support for GDC. While the San Francisco Travel Association sent a letter to GDC attendees saying the risk to the general population is low and urges people who are sick to stay home. This hasn't stopped big developers from pulling out of the event. 

47 countries have all reported cases of Coronavirus, including the US. Maybe this cancellation is for the best? I don't know, but it does suck. 

*Update*

GDC put out a press release after the writing of this article. 

After close consultation with our partners in the game development industry and community around the world, we’ve made the difficult decision to postpone the Game Developers Conference this March.

Having spent the past year preparing for the show with our advisory boards, speakers, exhibitors, and event partners, we're genuinely upset and disappointed not to be able to host you at this time .

We want to thank all our customers and partners for their support, open discussions and encouragement. As everyone has been reminding us, great things happen when the community comes together and connects at GDC. For this reason, we fully intend to host a GDC event later in the summer. We will be working with our partners to finalize the details and will share more information about our plans in the coming weeks.

This has been James with Game Fix. Game on everybody!     

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