The annual Game Developers Conference, a professional gathering of close to 30,000 interactive industry professionals, has been called off just two weeks before the 2020 edition was to launch due to fears of a coronavirus pandemic.
A number of top gaming companies, including Microsoft, Sony Interactive Entertainment and Electronic Arts, had already pulled out of this year’s conference in San Francisco in recent days because of the spreading coronavirus, prompting many on social media to call for GDC to postpone the event.
In a brief FAQ posted on social media and sent to attendees, GDC pledged that registrants would be receiving a full refund. Additionally, those who booked a hotel through the conference would not incur cancellation penalties, said the group. An email sent to GDC speakers said the organization would accept recorded versions of talks and would post them online. GDC said they would not be held behind the paywall of its archival GDC Vault.
Microsoft in a blog post Thursday stated that “after a close review of guidance by global health authorities and out of an abundance of caution, we’ve made the difficult decision to withdraw from participating at Game Developers Conference 2020 in San Francisco. The health and safety of players, developers, employees, and our partners around the world is our top priority. Especially as the world is experiencing growing public health risks associated with coronavirus .”.
Famed developer Hideo Kojima, the artist behind last year’s acclaimed and polarizing PlayStation 4 game “Death Stranding,” noted earlier that he and his company were passing on the opportunity to give a keynote talk at the conference, held each year in and around the Moscone Center.
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