UPDATE: Kojima Productions also pulls out, cancelling founder’s talk
Original story, February 20, 2020: Due to concerns around the novel coronavirus COVID19,
PlayStation and Facebook Gaming / Oculus will not attend this year’s Game Developers
Conference.
It follows a series of cancelled or postponed video game events, plus console manufacturing
disruption, caused by the pandemic. The virus has since infected more than 75,700 people,
killing 2,130. Most cases were in China, with slightly more than 1,000 cases registered in
other countries (including 15 in the USA).
Facebook says it’s still planning to make announcements about its Oculus business at GDC,
but it’s going to do so across digital platforms with ‘video, online Q&As and more. ‘The
company says it removes booth footprint and advises all employees not to travel to the
show.
“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 spokesperson for the Facebook
organization 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. “We continue to collaborate with UBM, GDC’s
parent company, and our partners, and thank them for their efforts.”
A statement sent to GamesIndustry.biz by Sony Interactive Entertainment stated: “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.”
PlayStation has already pulled its scheduled appearance at PAX East next week, where the
playable code of The Last of Us II was supposed to be shown. Also, exhibitors based in China
have had to either cancel their presence at GDC or send staff from North America to run
their stands. Last week, GDC said that this affected ‘about 10’ of the 550 companies taking
part in the show.
GDC is trying to meet regulatory guidelines and procedures around the situation like other
event organizers. It said it is continuing to improve its sanitation procedures, including
adding more hand sanitizer stations, using disinfecting electrostatic sprayers in high-traffic
areas and repeatedly cleaning the facilities.
UBM also partners with the San Francisco Travel Association to ensure that hotels are
improving their hygiene policies accordingly.
