PlayStation Not Attending GDC 2020 Due to the Coronavirus

The coronavirus has had many on high alert. Recently, Sony canceled their appearance at PAX East 2020 due to the virus and now won't be attending GDC 2020.

First reported on gamesindustry.biz, both Sony and Facebook Gaming stated they will not be attending this year's GDC due to the virus. 

"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 company spokesperson said. "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. 

A statement sent to GamesIndustry.biz by Sony Interactive Entertainment read: "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). 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."

The safety of their employees should always take priority. Sony also won't be participating at E3 2020 but this was because Sony decided not to attend, not because of the virus.

Penny Arcade also addressed Sony's decision to not attend PAX East 2020. Stating they accept Sony's decision but wanted to ensure that all attendees will be safe during the event.

Here’s the full statement from Penny Arcade found on the PAX East website:

The entire PAX community wants to express our concern for everyone impacted by the COVID- 19 virus. The gaming community is a global one and our hearts go out to every person and family affected.

PAX East 2020 will take place as scheduled with enhanced cleaning and sanitization across the show, including adhering to the recommendations set forth in the U.S. EPA’s Emerging Pathogen Policy regarding cleaning disinfectants effective against the COVID-19 virus. We are working closely with the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center and following local, state and federal public health guidelines, including those issued by the CDC. For more information on those measures and the virus, please visit the PAX East travel page and the MCCA website.

While we are saddened that Sony will no longer have a presence at PAX East 2020, we look forward to welcoming our friends at Sony to future PAX events and are focused on making PAX East 2020 a successful and enjoyable event for all attendees and exhibitors.

The well-being of everyone at PAX – from our attendees and exhibitors to our staff on-site at every show – is of the utmost importance to ReedPOP and Penny Arcade. Across the more than 50 total PAX events around the world, we have provided a positive environment for over one million attendees to celebrate gaming. We will continue to work diligently to ensure PAX East 2020 and our other events live up to our high standards and we will proactively keep you up to date with any further developments as we get closer to PAX East 2020.

The Switch version of The Outer Worlds has also been delayed to an unconfirmed date due to the coronavirus.

Adam Siddiqui,
Senior Editor, NoobFeed
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