2020 had a pretty rocky start for the gaming industry, and it doesn’t seem like going away anytime soon. GDC – one of the biggest gaming conventions held for developers to showcase their ‘new stuff’ – is in disarray. Unity Technologies, the company behind the famous Unity game engine, has decided to pull out of GDC 2020. The official verdict was that the decision was taken to prevent any kind of ‘health risk’ due to the spread of the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus). All announcements would be streamed online instead.
We’ve made the tough decision to cancel our on-the-ground activity at GDC 2020, due to current conditions with COVID-19. The health and safety of our employees, partners and friends is our top priority. More info to come on what we’ll be sharing online. https://t.co/xkujzb4v5c
— Unity for Games (@unitygames) February 27, 2020
Despite major organizations like Microsoft, Epic and Sony pulling out, organizers have repeatedly issued statements assuring that the event is going ahead as planned. GDC 2020 was scheduled to take place from March 16 to 20 in San Francisco. The city is in a state of an emergency due to the spread of the coronavirus, and that might have affected the GDC 2020 plans of most people willing to come to the venue.
With fears of the spread of the coronavirus in the USA being at its peak, it is feared that E3 this year might face the same fate as GDC. Many cities (including Los Angeles, where the E3 is scheduled to take place) have already started taking quarantine measures, and it might affect the footfall at all major events.