Due to concerns over the Coronavirus outbreak, and the increasing number of gaming companies that dropped out of the event because of it. Because of this, the GDC (Game Developers Conference) organisers have now announced that the event has been postponed til sometime in summer 2020, with refunds being offered to anyone who wants them.
Here’s their announcement about the change:
After close consultation with our partners in the game development industry and community around the world, we’ve made the difficult decision to postpone the Game Developers Conference this March.
Having spent the past year preparing for the show with our advisory boards, speakers, exhibitors, and event partners, we’re genuinely upset and disappointed not to be able to host you at this time.
We want to thank all our customers and partners for their support, open discussions and encouragement. As everyone has been reminding us, great things happen when the community comes together and connects at GDC. For this reason, we fully intend to host a GDC event later in the summer. We will be working with our partners to finalize the details and will share more information about our plans in the coming weeks.
As well as a link to their FAQ where you can find out how to get a refund if necessary:
https://www.gdconf.com/faq
It’s disappointing news for budding game designers and developers, but understandable given the situation involved. After all, with companies like Activision, Epic Games and Microsoft having dropped out, the event was losing sponsors and talks at an alarming rate, with many others likely to follow suit in the weeks to come.
So it made sense to postpone it. The risks of going ahead were just too high at this point in time.
But that leaves us wondering; is GDC going to be the only event to suffer such a fate? Or could other major gaming events like this get postponed or cancelled outright for similar reasons?
Because we’ve already heard rumblings about how the Tokyo Olympic Games might be called off or affected due to the outbreak in Japan, and things like E3 and PAX seem like they could be just as risky.
So it makes us wonder if any other conventions will suffer the same fate. Or whether those that do continue will have less games exhibited there due to companies being reluctant to attend.
Still, what do you think? Are you disappointed to see GDC postponed til September? And what other gaming events do you think the coronavirus outbreak might have an effect on this year?
Tell us your thoughts in the comments below, or on the Gaming Latest forums today!
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