Here are all the companies that have pulled out of GDC 2022 over coronavirus concerns

It seems like every mean solar day now, a new company announces it'south pulling out of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco due to health concerns surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19). It makes sense since the outbreak is hitting the tech manufacture at large and gaming has seen delays and esports league cancelations.

While we expect more news on GDC, one of the biggest events for gaming each year, here's what we know and which companies have dropped out:

• Sony was the offset high-profile company to pull out of GDC, which happened merely a 24-hour interval afterwards information technology announced it also wasn't attention PAX Eastward.
• Facebook and Oculus Gaming announced on the same twenty-four hour period as Sony that it besides won't be attending the conference and would be encouraging its employees to not attend. Later this week, Facebook also canceled the annual F8 software developer conference due to the outbreak.
• Kojima Productions, which was prepare to have some talks this year near Death Stranding, the company's get-go big release, announced that it won't be attention. Studio head Hideo Kojima and AI programmer Eric Johnson were set to speak.
• Unity Technologies, the visitor behind the game engine, announced on its blog Thursday that it wouldn't be attending and won't accept a physical presence. Information technology added information technology'll be showcasing what information technology had in store in the coming weeks.
• Electronic Arts said information technology was canceling its "official participation" at GDC and would be "limiting attendance to other events." It didn't specify whether it was encouraging employees to non attend.
• Microsoft announced Thursday via the Game Stack weblog that it won't exist attention GDC. Instead, it'll be streaming a lot of its sessions and game developer "experiences" online.
• Later on Thursday, Ballsy Games and Unreal Engine said it wouldn't exist attending via Twitter.
• Amazon appear Friday that it was withdrawing from the event and is planning to host a global online event to showcase what it had planned.
• Activision Blizzard besides announced on Twitter Friday that it wouldn't be attending, citing "growing concerns related to COVID-19."
• Gearbox published a statement on Twitter saying that it would be pulling out of GDC as well and that "our employees' health and wellness is our primary concern." It also said that information technology would be allowing developers who worked on Borderlands iii will give digital presentations at a afterwards date.

Related: Coronavirus: How COVID-nineteen shut down the tech industry

This ways a lot of the big booths on the bear witness floor won't be attending, although a lot of smaller companies and indies are still set to attend. There is no word even so whether Informa, the company that owns GDC, has plans to cancel the issue (Mobile World Congress was also canceled this year due to coronavirus concerns, so at that place'south precedent). Information technology did land on its blog that it wasn't canceling this twelvemonth's event and released a set of guidelines for attendees shortly after MWC was canceled. The briefing is however set up to take place from March 16-20 in San Francisco.

The team notes that it is working to provide a safe environment for attendees and volition exist following guidelines from the Center for Disease Command (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

In the meantime, San Fransisco Mayor London Breed declared a state of emergency in the city amidst outbreak concerns, even though there are no confirmed coronavirus cases in the city. This basically meant that city officials could starting time assembling the resource for rapid response and pull staff away from nonessential duties to focus on training. Later that week, a confirmed example from an "unknown" source (pregnant the patient hadn't traveled to afflicted areas and didn't come up into contact with somebody who was known to have the virus) was reported in Northern California.

The San Francisco Travel Association sent a letter to GDC attendees on Tuesday following the state of emergency news to reiterate that "the risk to the general public is low" and that people who are ill to stay home. It's too worth noting that it'due south also working with several federal organizations and the Moscone Center on providing updated information.

The U.Due south. said on Tuesday that an outbreak is "inevitable."

"Ultimately, we wait we will see community spread in the The states. It'southward non a question of if this will happen, but when this will happen," Nancy Messonnier, a director at the CDC, said. At the time of this writing, 47 countries have reported cases.

Update Feb. 28: Added that Amazon, Gearbox, and Activision Blizzard also pulled out of GDC.

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