Coronavirus impacts gaming events, eSports tournaments

Microsoft, Facebook and Sony cancel participation in Game Developers Conference 2020

Over two dozen trade fairs and industry conferences in China and overseas have been postponed due to travel curbs and concerns about the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19), potentially disrupting deals worth billions of dollars.

The gaming industry has been particularly affected due to Covid-19.  Some key game companies have cancelled community events, trade shows, and announcing delays.

Microsoft Corp withdrew from Game Developers Conference 2020 in San Francisco, joining a host of multinationals in calling off corporate events and grounding employees from travel as a result of the outbreak.



“After a close review of guidance by global health authorities and out of an abundance of caution, we’ve made the difficult decision to withdraw from participating at Game Developers Conference 2020 in San Francisco. The health and safety of players, developers, employees, and our partners around the world is our top priority. Especially as the world is experiencing growing public health risks associated with coronavirus (COVID-19),” Microsoft announced on its developer website.

Instead, Microsoft plans to move their presence to a digital-only event from March 16-18^th. The event will be held online on www.microsoft.com/gamestack and will be featuring planned game developer sessions and experiences, which will be streamed live and available on demand.

Facebook also cancelled participation in the GDC 2020. In a post on its gaming homepage Facebook said:

“Due to the evolving health concerns surrounding COVID-19, Facebook’s AR/VR and Gaming teams will not be attending GDC this year.

We’re removing our booth footprint and are advising all employees to refrain from travel during the show. We plan to host GDC partner meetings remotely in the coming weeks. We’ll also replace our in-person sessions at GDC with videos and announcements posted on the Facebook Gaming developer website.” Facebook is also missing the PAX East gaming event.



Sony was among the first few studios to drop out of GDC, the PlayStation maker announced its decision on February 20 due to"increasing concerns related to COVID-19."

"We felt this was the best option as the situation related to the virus and global travel restrictions are changing daily," Sony said in a statement emailed to gameimdutry.biz. Sony was going to uncover details about PlayStation 5 during GDC.

Sony will also be missing the PAX East gaming event in Boston due to coronavirus concerns. Citing health concerns the PlayStation maker said:

“Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment made the decision to cancel its participation at PAX East in Boston this year due to increasing concerns related to COVID-19 (also known as “novel coronavirus”). We felt this was the safest option as the situation is changing daily. We are disappointed to cancel our participation in this event, but the health and safety of our global workforce is our highest concern.”

Epic Games tweeted its decision to rescind from participation on Thursday: “Here at Epic we were excited about participating in GDC 2020. Regrettably, uncertainty around health concerns has made it unviable to send our employees, and so we have made the difficult decision to withdraw attendance. Stay tuned for Epic news and more through other channels.”

https://twitter.com/UnrealEngine/status/1233103903148924934

The finals of the computer games world cup in Poland will take place without an audience on site after the regional governor decided to revoke its permit due to coronavirus fears.

Intel Extreme Masters attracts thousands of people to the southern Polish city of Katowice every year.

The decision came at a time when there are no confirmed cases of the virus in Poland.

Despite mounting concerns surrounding Novel coronavirus GDC will be held on time according to the GDC website:

"TheGame Developers Conference will take place as planned in March, and we are watching closely for new developments around the Novel Coronavirus (COVID19 or 2019-nCoV) situation in China to keep the GDC community appraised of the latest updates."

However, many expect the show to be cancelled.