PlayStation won’t be showing off anything at PAX East or GDC 2020 thanks to the Coronavirus

The year that is 2020 began with a bang, a sense of optimism and renewal for a new decade where things can’t possibly get any worse after the 2010s saw Nazis return, the death of too many actors and Adam Sandler’s Netflix deal finalised. Our expectations for the crap hitting the fan were low, but holy crap not even a month in and 2020 has already exceeded them.

Right now, there’s a lethal case of sniffles doing the rounds in China, with the rest of the world locking down the dragon of the east and affecting pretty much anything involving more than two people in a room. Conventions are shrinking and some like the Mobile World Congress are being cancelled outright. One other big convention that is bleeding names lest the dreaded con-flu take a fatal turn with its attendees?

The Game Developers Conference, an annual gathering of game developers who cover everything there is about making a video game in the modern age, won’t see team blue on the showfloor. Sony has been especially cautious in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak, cancelling an appearance at PAX East (Where new The Last of Us Part II gameplay was scheduled to be shown) and now confirming via Games Industry that they’ll be skipping GDC as well lest PlayStation system architect Mark Cerny’s amazingly soothing voice be at risk before he has a chance to show off the PS5. Whenever that happens, that is.

“We have made the difficult decision to cancel our participation in Game Developers Conference due to increasing concerns related to COVID-19 (also known as coronavirus),” Sony explained in a statement.

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.

The Coronavirus has wreaked havoc across China and ground zero for the outbreak, the Wuhan province. At the time of writing, over 76 000 cases had been reported so far, with more than 75 000 of them coming from China alone and scattered confirmations of infections across the globe as the world looks to lock down any spread of the virus which has claimed over 2200 lives since it popped up this year.

The spread of the Coronavirus has also had a domino effect on all kinds of services that rely on China manpower to manufacture items, with Nintendo feeling the pinch as Chinese factories self-quarantine themselves and create a Nintendo Switch console shortage in Japan as a result of these measures. Serious stuff.

Last Updated: February 21, 2020