This year, the Game Developers Conference might not be great as it used to be because of coronavirus. Today we knew that Electronic Arts will be the latest company to withdraw from GDC 2020. That’s not all, we also knew that Kojima Productions will pull out of GDC citing “increasing concerns related to coronavirus” as the reason for cancellation. Both companies join Sony and Facebook Gaming (Oculus) who already cancelled their plans for next month’s event last week.
Electronic Art’s statement about Game Developers Conference
In the statement, EA said “We closely followed the global situation with coronavirus and with the recent escalation of cases in new regions, we have decided to take additional steps to protect the wellbeing of our employees including the restriction of all non-essential travel. As a result, we are also cancelling our official participation at GDC and limiting attendance to other events. We are continuing to monitor the situation and will adjust guidelines to our employees as we feel is appropriate.”
Last week, Game Developers Conference itself shared its concerns about the outbreak. It assured attendees that they will take the required measures to “execute a safe and successful event”. The “difficult decision” that Kojima Productions has made means that Hideo Kojima’s and Eric Johnson’s session will get cancelled.
Coronavirus affected PAX East too
After Sony, Square Enix and Capcom announced a change in their plans for PAX East which is happening next month. Square Enix cited coronavirus as the reason but Capcom didn’t specify or cite anything, but it’s probably for the same reason. The number of reported cases passed 80,000 since December, that’s why we advise you too to think twice before traveling. Game Developers Conference 2020 will start on March 16th and end on March 20th. On the other hand, PAX East will begin this week in Boston, USA.
