In late February, the Game Developers Conference, abbreviated as GDC, was canceled in response to numerous outbreaks of COVID-19, more popularly known as the Coronavirus. Today, however, it was announced that GDC will be rescheduled as a smaller, three-day event called GDC Summer, which will take place in August.
More specifically, GDC Summer will take place from August 4th to August 6th, instead of its original dates of March 16th through the 20th. The new conference will still be held in San Fransico at the Moscone Center, which was planned as the original location for GDC.
GDC 2020, like many similar events, was plagued by large companies dropping out due to concerns about their employees contracting coronavirus at the crowded conference, which would have drawn in travelers from around the world.
By the time that GDC was officially canceled, Activision, Amazon, Blizzard, CD Projekt Red, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Facebook, which owns Oculus, Gearbox, Kojima Productions, Kowloon Nights, Microsoft, PUBG Corporation, Sony, Square, and Unity were all major industry names which had announced that they wouldn't be attending, in addition to many smaller developers. Faced with large absences in its schedule and floor plan, GDC had little option but to postpone or cancel its event.
While GDC Summer is a shorter version of the regular conference, its planned content remains relatively similar. Discussions and talks from industry veterans, in addition to a two-day expo floor are both still planned as major components of GDC Summer. In addition, GDC is introducing a "community partnership program," allowing many organizations and groups to apply for onsite space, which can be used to host a variety of smaller gatherings.
In lieu of a physical event, GDC has also been hosting some of its previously scheduled talks, as well as its annual Game Developers Choice Awards via live streaming on Twitch. Like the originally planned conference was supposed to, these virtual events will conclude tomorrow, on March 20th.
Whether or not the beginning of August is too early to be hosting a new conference is debatable, as is whether such a large gathering can be pulled off in such little time. A lot of factors can change regarding COVID-19 between now and the scheduled date, giving GDC Summer's future a measure of uncertainty.
Source: GDC