The 2020 Game Developers Conference is scheduled to take place in less than a month, but several companies such as EA, PlayStation, and Kojima Productions will no longer attend due to ongoing coronavirus concerns.
Along with the gaming giants, Facebook has pulled it's appearances. “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,” a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Polygon. “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.”
EA said they will be limiting their presence to a smaller scale. "Just received word from corporate, and EA will be limiting our presence at GDC, canceling our participation in official GDC events, and all EA employees have been advised to not travel to San Francisco for the conference," EA's Alex Sherer shared on LinkedIn.
Hideo Kojima, who was scheduled to talk about Death Stranding, also canceled Kojima Productions commitments at the convention. "Kojima Productions has made the difficult decision to cancel our participation at the 2020 Game Developers Conference due to increasing concerns related to novel coronavirus," the studio shared via Twitter.
The virus has also delayed some esports events and development of some games. As time goes on, even more companies might drop out for safety concerns.
So, what are your thoughts on big companies such as Sony canceling their GDC appearances? Do you think they should have tried alternatives to present their projects? Personally, I think safety comes first and they did the right thing. Whatever your thoughts may be, let us know in the comments below.
