Game Developers Conference 2020 that was scheduled to take place on March 16-20 in San Francisco has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, the organizers said. At the moment, they intend to hold an event in the summer, and they promise to disclose further details regarding new plans later.
Important GDC 2020 Update https://t.co/EoReMGtZJJ
— Official_GDC (@Official_GDC) February 29, 2020
It is also noteworthy that the situation with GDC 2020 is similar to the one with the MWC 2020. Initially, Facebook refused to participate in the video game conference, and this statement caused a domino effect. Soon, several other companies joined Facebook’s decision not to attend the event because of fears caused by the spread of coronavirus. Among them, there are Electronic Arts, Kojima Productions, Unity, Sony, Microsoft, Epic Games, Amazon, Activision Blizzard, and others.
Also, the organizers emphasized that all GDC 2020 participants who were planning to attend the conference in spring will receive a full refund for the tickets they purchased. They will not pay penalties for canceling reservations at partner hotels and residential blocks of the Game Developers Conference.
Besides, the organizers of the GDC 2020 invited all the speakers to record their speeches on video and then share them. In essence, these videos will then be published freely on the event’s online venues.
As for the Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice Awards that were to be held as part of the GDC 2020, their offline components were canceled completely. Instead, these events will be held online on the GDC Twitch Channel on those days when they were supposed to be held, which is on March 16-20.
