The 2020 Game Developers Conference has suffered a major blow with Sony, Facebook, EA, and Kojima Productions all pulling out due to concerns over the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.
The first major company to cancel its involvement with the trade show was Facebook.
“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 Gamer Developer Conference due to the evolving public health risks related to COVID-19,” said a Facebook spokesperson.
Sony Interactive Entertainment quickly followed with their own statement, “We are disappointed to cancel our participation, but the health and safety of our global workforce is our highest concern.”
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The cancelations continued with Electronic Arts announcing they will be limiting their presence at GDC, according to ad product development specialist for the company, Alex Sherer, who posted on LinkedIn.
One other notable gaming figure who has decided to cancel his developer talk is Hideo Kojima.
Despite the withdrawals, GDC is still set to continue on March 16 to 20 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.
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