This Annual Manufacturers Conference is postponed from March to summer after the high-profile release of companies that the company had planned to attend. Sony, Microsoft, Epic Games, Unity, Blizzard activation, Amazon, and Facebook, including Oculus, are all canceled plans to attend the show, pointing to health concerns related to the publication of the novel coronavirus, aka COVID-19 .
GDC 2020 was scheduled to be March 16-20 in San Francisco, but organizers say the show – or rather a "GDC event" – will be available sometime this summer. Editors released the following statement on Friday:
After intimate discussions with our partners in the game development industry and society around the world, we made the difficult decision to postpone the Developer for Developers Conference in March.
Having spent the past year preparing for the show with our advisory boards, speakers, exhibitors, and our event partners, we are genuinely frustrated and disappointed at not being able to handle it at this time.
We want to thank all our customers and partners for their support, open discussions and encouragement. As everyone reminded us, good things happen when the community comes together and connects to the GDC. For this reason, we fully intend to host the GDC event later in the summer. We will be working with our partners to finalize the details and will share more details about our plans in the coming weeks.
GDC organizers say the registered conference and attendees will receive a full refund for the badge purchase. The organizers also said that conference speakers would be able to make their scheduled GDC presentations available online for free. If the speaker chooses to deliver their talk via video, it will be uploaded to the GDC YouTube channel and added to the free GDC Vault section.
Exhibitions associated with the conference, the Independent Games Festival and the Game Developers Choice Awards, will be broadcast on Twitch within a week of the event "to further our community to honor (and) celebrate their best games."
The announcement comes after both Epic and Unity games, makers of well-known video game engineers and other game development tools, were released at the show on Thursday.
"At Epic we are excited about participating in the GDC 2020," Epic said on Unreal Engine's Twitter account. "Sadly, the uncertainty about health concerns has made it difficult to send our staff, which is why we have taken the difficult decision to withdraw."
"Unfortunately, this year, after much thought and deliberation, we made the difficult decision to withdraw from the GDC 2020," Unity CEO John Riccitiello said on the company's website. “Although we did not make this decision lightly, the current conditions for COVID-19 (also called Novel Coronavirus) pose a serious threat. We consider our employees' health to be of paramount importance. We do not want any Unity employee or partner to unnecessarily compromise their health and safety.
"We advise all employees to refuse to attend GDC," Riccitiello continued. "We will no longer have any visuals with booths, but we will showcase the great GDC content we have been working on online.
Microsoft made the same announcement
"In light of this, we plan to submit our presence at the digital event only on March 16th held www.microsoft.com/gamestack, ”Said Microsoft. "The event will feature numerous planning sessions for our programming engineers and our experience, which will be streamed live and available on demand."
On Friday, the activation with Blizzard released independent statements on their decision to withdraw from the GDC. Amazon and Gearbox Software also canceled scheduled attendance.
"The health and well-being of our teams is a top priority for us, and due to the growing concerns related to COVID-19, Activation is asking staff not to attend this year's Developer Conference as we continue to monitor the situation," the company said on Twitter. "This has not been an easy decision, as this conference has always been a priority for our developers. We look forward to participating in the future."
"Blizzard will no longer be attending this year (GDC) due to the growing problems associated with COVID-19," developer added. "The health and wellbeing of our teams is a top priority for us."
In recent weeks, studios are the same Surprising Death Developer Kojima Productions and Sony Interactive Entertainment have been canceled plans to attend GDC, even as game editors Verified attendees
More than 29,000 sports development professionals are headed to GDC in 2019, according to organizers.
With the world's most contagious novel coronavirus, the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns Americans to prepare for an outbreak in America. National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Dr. Nancy Messonnier he told the media there is no suggestion that an outbreak can be mild or bad, but that Americans should "be prepared for the hope that this may be wrong" – because outbreaks are "inevitable."
This week, health officials in Northern California confirmed a COVID-19 lawsuit against a woman who "could communicate with another patient," The Washington Post reported.
Experts suggest that it is impossible to be infected, but the risk to the American people is still low. According to The Atlantic, researchers and scientists predict that "40 to 70 percent of people worldwide will be infected with the COVID-19-causing virus," but many will simply look for "mild disease," or have no symptoms at all – similar to the flu.
More than 80,000 COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide, most of them in the province of Hubei China, where the virus is believed to have originated. South Korea has seen an increase in patients with COVID-19, up to 977. Sailing in Japan, the Princess Princess, includes 691 confirmed cases. Italy has more than 300 people infected with the virus, while Japan's and Iran's numbers are similarly continuing to rise. The virus has spread to over 30 countries.
