GDC 2020 – Seeing so many participants stepping back from the event (before the delay, even Activision Blizzard and Iron Galaxy Studios joined that list…), the organisers decided to push back this year’s Game Developers Conference from mid-March.

It’s not a joke: after Sony, Facebook (Oculus), Kojima Productions, Microsoft, Epic Games, Unity, and even Activision Blizzard and Iron Galaxy Studios saying overnight that they won’t attend the event that would have been held in San Francisco between March 16 and 20, the organisers had to think twice, as this list is enormous. They announced that the best thing is to do now is to wait. They pushed GDC 2020 back to the summer because of the coronavirus, but they didn’t give a new, exact date yet.

They say in their Q&A that „if you are a currently registered paid pass holder, you will be receiving an email about your registration status and any next steps regarding refunds, which conference and expo attendees will be receiving in full.” Also, if you „made hotel reservations inside the GDC room block,” don’t worry about paying penalties or fees, as that will also be covered. The organisers are also „intending to make many of the presentations that would have been given at GDC 2020 available for free online – after speakers (optionally) contribute their talks in video format, they will be distributed on the GDC YouTube channel and the free part of GDC Vault.”

They also „intend to stream a set of these GDC 2020 talks and the Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice Awards via Twitch during the week that the event would have taken place in San Francisco (March 16 to 20),” so these events seem to be safe for now.

Still, it puts the E3 in some trouble this year. Sure, that event will be held in early June, but if the situation doesn’t improve, they might also see a delay. The Taipei Game Show was also delayed from February to June, and who knows what Cologne’s Gamescom will see in August?

We’ll see a tasty summer, especially as we wait for the next-gen consoles.

Source: Gematsu

Please support our page theGeek.games on Patreon, so we can continue to write you the latest gaming, movie and tech news and reviews as an independent magazine.
Become a Patron!