Coronavirus – SXSW 2020, as well as TwitchCon Amsterdam, have been cancelled for now.
SXSW (South by Southwest) would have been held in Austin, Texas, but due to the city’s request, the organisers announced that this year’s event won’t be held due to the coronavirus concerns. They are looking into rescheduling the event to a later date, and to provide a virtual SXSW online experience for the attendants.
This year’s SXSW would have had Reggie Fils-Aime, the former president of Nintendo of America, with a keynote on March 16, plus the annually held Sonic the Hedgehog panel would have also taken place on March 20. However, regarding it, SEGA quickly responded – they said on Twitter that it will now happen in April, but in a „new format.” No further details were announced. Yet, one thing is sure: it looks like SXSW will not be held for the first time after 34 years, even though more than 400 thousand attendees were expected to show up between March 13 and 22…
The other cancelled event is TwitchCon Amsterdam. It would have been held on May 2 and May 3 in the Dutch city, but on Twitter, we can find the statement about it being cancelled: due to the coronavirus concerns, they would rather have a healthy community. The attendants and the exhibitors will be contacted regarding the refunds.
You might ask what the situation is with E3. ESA, the organisers behind the annual gamer Canaan, said in a statement they are closely monitoring the situation, especially how Los Angeles has declared a state of emergency due to the spread of the virus. It doesn’t mean that we have to give up on E3 just yet – the ESA didn’t cancel it yet. However, if the situation doesn’t improve, then we might lose the E3 after two and a half decades, and it could affect those who’d have a show (such as Microsoft, who’d probably reveal the price of the Xbox Series X here).
Source: Gematsu, DualShockers
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