It was announced that Sony Interactive Entertainment and Facebook are pulling out of GDC 2020. Them coming up with this decision is due to the newest novel coronavirus COVID-19 and their concern for the health and safety of their employees, partners and the rest of the community.
The official statement from a Sony Interactive Entertainment representative to GamesIndustry.biz is the following:
We have made the difficult decision to cancel our participation in the 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.
Here is a statement from a Facebook company spokesperson to GameIndustry.biz:
“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. 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.”
GDC 2020 will start on March 16th at the Moscone Center in San Francisco and will end on March 20th.
