Bad news for PlayStation fans who were planning on attending PAX East next week. With the spread of the coronavirus becoming a greater and greater emergency, Sony has decided to not participate at PAX, scrapping its plans to have a major presence at the upcoming event.
“Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment made the decision to cancel its participation at PAX East in Boston this year due to increasing concerns related to COVID-19 (also known as “novel coronavirus”),” it wrote in an update on the PlayStation Blog post regarding its original plans for PAX East. “We felt this was the safest option as the situation is changing daily. We are disappointed to cancel our participation in this event, but the health and safety of our global workforce is our highest concern."
This will no doubt be a huge bummer for PAX-going Sony fans. As the original post can attest, Sony was going to share some of 2020’s biggest upcoming games with attendees. In addition to demos for games like Doom Eternal, Nioh 2, and Iron Man VR, PAX East would have let the public experience The Last of Us 2 firsthand for the first time.
In light of everything, though, it’s not too surprising, and not even the first case of a major gaming-related event being cancelled because of coronavirus. It’s very understandable that Sony is worried. The coronavirus has become a major epidemic in the last two months, with thousands of people infected and hundreds of deaths reported so far. The situation has forced many people into quarantine throughout China, where the virus originated, and as such they’ve had to rely on things like video games to stay connected.
Besides the growing human toll, it’s looking more certain that the epidemic will leave a sizable mark on Chinese manufacturing, which is responsible for a huge portion of the world’s electronic devices. A number of games and other gaming products have already been delayed as a result of manufacturers shutting down, and while it’s still too soon to say with certainty, it’s possible that this could even delay the start of the next console generation.
As of this writing, there is no clear ETA for when the coronavirus may start blowing over, so it’s possible that, besides potentially infecting even more people, this whole situation could lead to additional product delays and shortages and end up setting gamers’ 2020 calendars back a lot. For now, all one can do is hope for the best.
Source: PlayStation Blog