It feels as if we’re on a loop here but with just different companies. The coronavirus is quite the health scare right now and it’s left plenty of companies to pull out from different events. If the production line for certain products is not affected, then chances are you may see certain companies not showcase their content in other expos. For instance, PAX East was one of the events that were hit with several companies no longer attending. Now GDC is being hit by several companies pulling out from attending.
Activision is the latest to announce that they are no longer attending GDC this year. It’s all due to the coronavirus that is causing companies from attending. With the hopes of not catching the virus or further spreading it around, Activision is playing it safe by not attending the event altogether.
This announcement came through a post in which the company alerted followers that they would be bowing out from GDC after the growing concerns of the coronavirus. Again, other companies have followed the same trend and are no longer attending due to the virus. Likewise, GDC itself was quick to alert those attending that they are still running the event despite the coronavirus and the city recently entering a local emergency.
While we wait to see if the virus dies down it would be interesting to see if other events start to cancel or get put on hold. After all, we are just months away from E3 which is a yearly event that companies travel to in order to showcase what is coming out in the near future.