After numerous exhibitors such as Sony, Epic Games, Facebook, and more pulled out of GDC, the entire event has been canceled. The popular Game Developers Conference will no longer be happening this March in San Francisco due to the on-going panic surrounding the coronavirus.
“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,” reads a statement from GDC. “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.”
GDC 2020 will still happen later this year as the organization “fully intend to host a GDC event later in the summer”. It’s unclear how much this will impact the scheduled speakers and presentations that were already announced for GDC 2020’s March event. Developers from Rockstar Games were planning on hosting panels highlighting key aspects of development on Red Dead Redemption 2 with other major companies talking about other topics involving the games industry.
Speakers have been offered the opportunity to submit their presentations to be distributed for free online with attendees getting full refunds as well. It’s unclear if the summer event will be held in San Francisco or if the venue will change.
California has already reported cases of coronavirus but none in the SF area. The CDC has warned Americans to prepare for an outbreak of the virus in the United States after its global spread starting in China. China themselves removed popular mobile game and virus simulator Plague Inc. off the Chinese App Store the other day in response to the panic created by the coronavirus.
We’ll continue to keep you posted on the GDC situation as it develops.
