COVID-19 was the reason that many gaming events were delayed last year. It seems like the trend is going to continue. In a recent announcement today, PAX Aus Team confirmed on Twitter that this year’s PAX will be delayed indefinitely, just like last year.
Fans who already purchased the tickets will be refunded in full. They will receive further instructions about the refund within the next seven days.
Event Delay
The event was supposed to take place in a physical form from October 8 to 10 at the Melbourne Convention Center in Melbourne, Australia. However, that won’t be happening anymore. Instead, an online event will take place as last year. The organizer announced that more information about the online event, PAX Aus Online, will be revealed soon.
An update on PAX Aus 2021 pic.twitter.com/xnq2Hwu7nA
— PAX Australia (@PAXAus) August 10, 2021
This is surely disappointing news for fans, but we understand why the organizer decided to delay the event. COVID-19 has recently resurged in Australia. A physical event with thousands of people close to each other would have been irresponsible, if not deadly.
Other Delayed Events
PAX 2021 is not the only physical event that has been turned into an online event. After E3 2020 was canceled, the ESA team decided to hold E3 2021 in an online form. The upcoming Gamescom 2021 event scheduled in late August has also been turned into an online event.
Effect on the Gaming Industry
COVID-19 has been a double-edged sword for the gaming industry. On one side, the worldwide lockdown caused an unprecedented surge in sales and overall time people spent playing games. On the other side, many gaming events were canceled, and game development became even more difficult.
Postponed Titles
The difficulty in game development has caused release delays of several games, including the highly-anticipated Cuphead Expansion pack, Far Cry 6, and Chivalry 2. It’s no secret that more games are going to be paused due to the pandemic. Even Xbox boss, Phil Spencer, thinks so.
You can learn more about the virus on the official CDC and World Health Organization websites.
So what do you think? Were you excited about PAX Australia 2021? Will you be watching the online event? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
