Sony and Oculus cancel GDC conference due to coronavirus

Sony and the VR and gaming divisions of Facebook announce that they will not be attending the annual Game Developer Conference. This conference in the United States is scheduled for the period from 16 to 20 March and will continue as usual for the time being.

Facebook says in a statement on its Oculus website that it unfortunately cannot participate this year. The company points to the health and safety concerns of its employees and the GDC community as a whole, after which it lists the public health risks surrounding 2019-nCoV. This is the new coronavirus that broke out in China last month and is causing unrest worldwide. Facebook says it wanted to make some announcements during the GDC; these will now appear in digital form, including through videos and question-answer sessions.

Sony previously canceled its presence at the PAX East game fair and is now doing the same for GDC. The company said in a statement to GamesIndustry.biz that it had come to this “difficult decision” due to concerns related to the virus.

The organization behind the game developers conference in San Francisco has announced that the event will continue as usual. According to the organization, the strict US quarantine rules surrounding the coronavirus and reinforced measures on the ground create a situation where it is possible to conduct a safe and successful event. A week ago, the organization already wrote that all Chinese participants will be absent this year; that is about ten of the 550 companies that would participate this year.