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Coronavirus Leads EA, CD Projekt Red, Square Enix, Capcom To Abandon GDC, PAX East

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
The coronavirus hits just keep on coming. After leading to the withdrawal of Sony and Facebook from GDC, concerns over the outbreak has resulted in four more high profile withdrawals, with EA telling their staff not to attend the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco next month, and three major publishers abandoning PAX East.

News about both companies made the rounds overnight and early Wednesday morning Australian time, starting with EA. Alex Sherer, a specialist in ad product development at EA, posted last night that EA management had advised "all EA employees ... not to travel to San Francisco for the conference".
The decision was only made known to staff yesterday. In a statement to GamesIndustry, EA confirmed the emergence of new cases prompted the decision. "Having closely followed the global situation with coronavirus and with the recent escalation of cases in new regions, we have decided to take additional steps to protect the wellbeing of our employees including the restriction of all non-essential travel," EA said.

CD Projekt Red's call to cancel their PAX East appearance, however, will have the greatest impact. The show starts Friday Australian time in Boston, and their decision will be tough for any fans excited for fresh Cyberpunk 2077 content. It's not just CDR though: Capcom cancelled a Monster Hunter meet and greet event during the convention, while Square Enix cancelled a Final Fantasy 14 panel, fan gathering and developer signing sessions because of COVID-19 fears.

Taking into consideration the current situation within the region, sadly SQUARE ENIX has decided to cancel the PAX East attendance of staff who would be travelling from the Japan offices," Square wrote."This difficult decision was based on our desire to prevent any potential spread of the virus and to prioritise the health and safety of our team and our fans."

With more and more publishers pulling out, it increases the likelihood that more high profile departures will follow. And it might not be the only show to suffer. The organisers from Computex, the largest tech show in Asia and one of the highest profile events for CPU, GPU and peripheral manufacturers worldwide, will make a decision in April on whether to go ahead with their annual conference. That said, the organisers are upbeat about Taiwan's ability to contain the virus, citing the development of mobile apps to let citizens know where they can get stock of facial masks, as well as a cloud-based health initiative to connect ID cards and health insurance with customs data to identify potential future coronavirus cases.

 
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Well I misjudged the situation, my bad.
Its been said by the World Health Organisation that Coronavirus has pandemic potential so companies thinking of the health and safety of their employees first is the right move.
Still couldn't believe there was actual outrage from some at Sony for pulling out of these events given current situation with an out of control virus that countries are struggling to contain.
 
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I work in game company here in Japan. (Big one)

We are doing remote for 2 weeks already.
GDC cancelled for us 2 weeks ago.
Not allowed to go China.
We can’t go to work before 11 am if needed . (Avoid overcrowded train)
We cant attend company meeting with X amount of people.
No mask you can’t go inside company take your stuff.
And many many other rules.

Luckily I have around 600 masks and those alcohol hand cleaner.
I plan to stock some food today.

btw, there is no cases at all near I live Lols.
 
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The plus side is that MS is still going, so we will see some new next gen stuff soon.

The minus side is that it won’t make release, because they will all be dead come release.

I’m here all week folks, be sure to tip your waitress.
This event will get cancelled mate. I would honestly be shocked if they still went ahead with GDC with so many companies pulling out.
 

jshackles

Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
First of all - the safety of everyone's health is obviously the absolute most important thing to consider here. It doesn't make sense to put everyone in potential danger over some new video game news / reveals.

That being said, have any of these companies ever heard of teleconferencing or telecasting? It almost feels at this point as they're using the outbreak / news cycle to their advantage.
 
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I work in game company here in Japan. (Big one)

We are doing remote for 2 weeks already.
GDC cancelled for us 2 weeks ago.
Not allowed to go China.
We can’t go to work before 11 am if needed . (Avoid overcrowded train)
We cant attend company meeting with X amount of people.
No mask you can’t go inside company take your stuff.
And many many other rules.

Luckily I have around 600 masks and those alcohol hand cleaner.
I plan to stock some food today.

btw, there is no cases at all near I live Lols.
Stay safe mate. Here in New Zealand i'm starting to worry even though we don't have any infected cases yet. Still i come to work each morning worried that i may one day read a coronavirus case in Auckland.
If that happens, i'm staying home. I really don't give a shit at this point. I will not put myself in harms way.
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Its been said by the World Health Organisation that Coronavirus has pandemic potential so companies thinking of the health and safety of their employees first is the right move.
Still couldn't believe there was actual outrage from some at Sony for pulling out of these events.
I am not sure how back are we going to do, but it took me a while till I saw big bumps suddenly with patients. And well this not really to do with Sony specifically, but everything about Coronavirus on this site. I try to keep my mouth shut on that. I've been concerned about Bird Flu which we are having in here. And basically I am not that long ago transplantated patient and what is within my "living" radius, I find the main priority for me to worry about. So I underestimate the situation. So hopefully now it's going to make more sense. I posted my "well-researched" post in multiple threads, I just take a bait, because I knew that one of it was also about Sony.
 
Hawking Radiation Hawking Radiation i agree, I can see it being cancelled too. Too many people have pulled out, it’s just not good. Question is when can it be redone? This virus isn’t going away any time soon.
I suspect the virus is going to hit the global economy real hard and for sure the next gen console's will be delayed. At this point i dont care about PS5 reveal. The health and wellbeing of all people should be of top priority now.
 

Blond

Banned
We're being told to prepare for a pandemic. I don't know what anyone here thinks is going to happen but don't act like this a meme anymore...
 
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MS should've been more caring to their employees and canceled before these other publishers did. I honestly don't see MS attending GDC at this rate.
Before:
phil-spencer.0.1546713355.0.jpeg

After:
aFkeLet.jpg


Micro$oft don't give a shit as long as its fanbase is satisfied despite the alarming situation with the Coronavirus.
 
First of all - the safety of everyone's health is obviously the absolute most important thing to consider here. It doesn't make sense to put everyone in potential danger over some new video game news / reveals.

That being said, have any of these companies ever heard of teleconferencing or telecasting? It almost feels at this point as they're using the outbreak / news cycle to their advantage.
Yeah PAX East and its upwards of 50 000 members should just do a teleconference instead.
 

ethomaz

Banned
They genuinely care about their employees and even fanbase. That's why withholding info about the PlayStation 5 and instead raising awareness of this pandemic Coronavirus might be the most selfless move ever done by a corporation.

Love you Sony 💙💙💙💙💙 (5 hearts equating to the PS5 🤭)
All faith now is in the Sony Direct streaming to reveal the PS5.
Without travel for an physical event they have only that option.
 

GHG

Gold Member
All these companies pulling out are anti-consumer hacks using this political event as an excuse to hide because they have been lazy and have nothing to show. This is just a convenient excuse.

Boston is 10000% safe. 0 cases, ZERO cases of this overhyped flu virus and there is no way its ever getting from China to Boston either.

Even if it did get to Boston everyone would be safe, very safe. America has the best healthcare in the world.

I'm sick of you fanboys defending everything and then trying to talk down to those of us who can see what's really going on :messenger_downcast_sweat:
 
All these companies pulling out are anti-consumer hacks using this political event as an excuse to hide because they have been lazy and have nothing to show. This is just a convenient excuse.

Boston is 10000% safe. 0 cases, ZERO cases of this overhyped flu virus and there is no way its ever getting from China to Boston either.

Even if it did get to Boston everyone would be safe, very safe. America has the best healthcare in the world.

I'm sick of you fanboys defending everything and then trying to talk down to those of us who can see what's really going on :messenger_downcast_sweat:
16030.jpg
 
They genuinely care about their employees and even fanbase. That's why withholding info about the PlayStation 5 and instead raising awareness of this pandemic Coronavirus might be the most selfless move ever done by a corporation.

Love you Sony 💙💙💙💙💙 (5 hearts equating to the PS5 🤭)
Hmm you sound like a Sony employ... wait.... Hideo kk....
You morphed slowly into a Kojima.
 

Jtibh

Banned
  • WHO warns the rest of the world "is not ready for the virus to spread..."
  • CDC warns Americans "should prepare for possible community spread" of virus.
  • San Francisco Mayor declares state of emergency
  • Later, CDC says pandemic not a question of it, but when
  • Brazil may have South America's first coronavirus case
  • Germany confirms 2nd case on Tuesday, brings total to 17
  • Italy cases spike to 322; deaths hit 10
  • Japan's Shiseido tesll 8k employees to work from home
  • Kudlow tries to jawbone markets higher
  • HHS Sec. Azar warns US lacks stockpiles of masks
  • Italy Hotel in Lockdown After First Coronavirus Case in Liguria
  • Algeria confirms 1st case
  • First case in Switzerland
  • Kuwait halts all flights to Singapore and Japan
  • Iran confirms 95 cases, 15 deaths
  • First case in Austria
  • Spain reports 7 cases in under 24 hours, including in Madrid, Canary Islands, Barcelona
  • Iran Deputy Health Minister infected with Covid-19



I just leave this here for context . Not even going into my real sources.
Anyone saying its just a flu should go back to school and finish grade 8 th.

Thats all have to say here. Wont argue or correct anyone.

Greta out.
 
  • WHO warns the rest of the world "is not ready for the virus to spread..."
  • CDC warns Americans "should prepare for possible community spread" of virus.
  • San Francisco Mayor declares state of emergency
  • Later, CDC says pandemic not a question of it, but when
  • Brazil may have South America's first coronavirus case
  • Germany confirms 2nd case on Tuesday, brings total to 17
  • Italy cases spike to 322; deaths hit 10
  • Japan's Shiseido tesll 8k employees to work from home
  • Kudlow tries to jawbone markets higher
  • HHS Sec. Azar warns US lacks stockpiles of masks
  • Italy Hotel in Lockdown After First Coronavirus Case in Liguria
  • Algeria confirms 1st case
  • First case in Switzerland
  • Kuwait halts all flights to Singapore and Japan
  • Iran confirms 95 cases, 15 deaths
  • First case in Austria
  • Spain reports 7 cases in under 24 hours, including in Madrid, Canary Islands, Barcelona
  • Iran Deputy Health Minister infected with Covid-19



I just leave this here for context . Not even going into my real sources.
Anyone saying its just a flu should go back to school and finish grade 8 th.

Thats all have to say here. Wont argue or correct anyone.

Greta out.
Ive studied public health for about 6 years and i can confidently tell you that we are all fucked.
601.gif
 

Gamernyc78

Banned
I work in game company here in Japan. (Big one)

We are doing remote for 2 weeks already.
GDC cancelled for us 2 weeks ago.
Not allowed to go China.
We can’t go to work before 11 am if needed . (Avoid overcrowded train)
We cant attend company meeting with X amount of people.
No mask you can’t go inside company take your stuff.
And many many other rules.

Luckily I have around 600 masks and those alcohol hand cleaner.
I plan to stock some food today.

btw, there is no cases at all near I live Lols.

Regardless it's gd caution and stay safe bro.

Thanks for sharing this.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Come to Boston the mayor said.

 
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