Sony and Facebook Cancels GDC 2020 Attendance Due to Coronavirus - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 20 February 2020 / 3,031 Views
Sony Interactive Entertainment and Facebook have both announced they will no longer be attending Game Developers Conference 2020 due to the concerns over the coronavirus (CODVID19).
This is the second event Sony has cancelled over the virus. Yesterday, the company announced they will no longer be attending PAX East 2020 at the end of the month.
"We have made the difficult decision to cancel our participation in Game Developers Conference due to increasing concerns related to COVID-19 (also known as coronavirus)," a Sony Interactive Entertainment representative told GamesIndustry.
"We felt this was the best option as the situation related to the virus and global travel restrictions are changing daily. We are disappointed to cancel our participation, but the health and safety of our global workforce is our highest concern. We look forward to participating in GDC in the future."
"Out of concern for the health and safety of our employees, our dev partners, and the GDC community, Facebook will not be attending this year's Game Developer Conference due to the evolving public health risks related to COVID-19,"said a Facebook representative.
"We still plan to share the exciting announcements we had planned for the show through videos, online Q&As, and more, and will plan to host GDC partner meetings remotely in the coming weeks. We continue to collaborate with UBM, GDC's parent company, and our partners, and thank them for their efforts."
GDC 2020 runs from March 16 to 20, while PAX East 2020 runs from February 27 to March 1.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Almost afraid to comment because downvotes sting like a bitch. But damn, didn't know things were that scary overseas. I've had little exposure to information on corona virus, but I'm going to look into it now.
Company has got to do right for their employees, if they want their employees to do right by them. Sucks that stuff like this is canceled, but ultimately a small price.
Next article tomorrow: "Sony shuts down due to coronavirus". Wouldn't even surprise me.
Is every convention and conference getting cancelled?
Could this be a clever marketing strategy for The Last of Us Part II???
Are you serious? I really can't tell.
No, it was a joke.
I see. It's sometimes hard to tell with all those conspiracy theories in the wild.
GDC too? Are they just going all digital at this point?
This is to help keep people safe and reduce the chances of spreading the virus. Gotta look outside of the gamer bubble.
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