10 THE TOP STORY
The ESA has officially cancelled E3 2020 due to the coronavirus
Coronavirus chaos.
Agrowing list of gaming and industry events have been postponed or cancelled due to concerns about the coronavirus, including GDC and E3. While E3 doesn’t take place until June, the ESA has decided not to risk continuing its plans given the escalating outbreak.
Events started being cancelled in China back in January, including the Taipei Game Show and several esports leagues, while Chinese companies started sending employees home. This also had a knock-on effect internationally— Path of Exile developer Grinding Gear Games, for instance, is expected to delay the beta of its sequel because Chinese artists weren’t able to work.
In February, PUBG Corp postponed PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds’ first event of the year,
PGS: Berlin. Shortly after, IEM: Katowice’s licence was revoked by the Polish government, though the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major and Starcraft 2 tournament broadcast still went ahead online. Several other European events followed suit, including TwitchCon Amsterdam and EVE Fanfest.
Sony, Square Enix, Capcom, CD Projekt Red, and PUBG Corp all pulled out of PAX East in Boston as more companies decided to restrict travel, and when San Francisco declared a health emergency, the organizers of GDC hit pause on the event. Refunds were issued, but attendees were still left with financial
MORE CANCELLATIONS AND POSTPONEMENTS SEEM LIKELY
burdens thanks to sunk travel costs, as well as time wasted on preparing demos and presentations.
GOING VIRAL
GDC’s organizers have said it will return in the summer, but no dates have been announced yet. E3 2020 was also meant to kick off in the summer, with the ESA saying it was going ahead with the event when it was asked at the start of March. That’s no longer the case, but E3 could still continue as an online show.
As more countries start battening down the hatches and enacting measures to stop the spread of the virus— like France forbidding gatherings of more than 1,000 people—more cancellations and postponements seem likely, while the industry in general will continue to see an impact as more companies in affected regions advise their employees to cut down on travel or stay at home.
In more positive news, researchers from Washington University are hoping to crowdsource a vaccine for coronavirus through Foldit, a 2008 game that tasks players with solving complex puzzles using protein chains. The team has now added the virus to the game in the hopes that players will collaborate on designs that can then be used in real-world experiments.
Fraser Brown