Plenty of big names cancelled event appearances just recently due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and one of the events suffering from cancellations has been Game Developers Conference (or GDC 2020). Many attendees have been speculating on whether or not the event would happen at all and now, GDC has put out an official statement letting people know that the event has been postponed. The statement reads, in full:
"After close consultation with our partners in the game development industry and community around the world, we've made the difficult decision to postpone the Game Developers Conference this March.
Having spent the past year preparing for the show with our advisory boards, speakers, exhibitors, and event partners, we're genuinely upset and disappointed not to be able to host you at this time.
We want to thank all our customers and partners for their support, open discussions and encouragement. As everyone has been reminding us, great things happen when the community comes together and connects at GDC. For this reason, we fully intend to host a GDC event later in the summer. We will be working with our partners to finalize the details and will share more information about our plans in the coming weeks.
The plan for right now is to hold the event this summer, although no official date has yet been revealed".
Conference and expo ticket holders will be receiving full refunds and will be updated regarding this via email and those having booked hotels via the GDC site will not have to pay penalties or fees associated with these room reservations.
Those wanting to experience the event in some capacity will have to wait and see whether conference speakers are willing to contribute in video format. This scenario would see the talks showing up on the GDC YouTube channel and the GDC Vault for free.
GDC also intend to stream some of the planned GDC 2020 talks regarding Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice Awards via Twitch on March 16 - 20.