KEY POINTS

  • The E3 2020 won't push through because of fears brought about by COVID-19
  • While it hasn't made official, gaming publishers see the decision to be forthcoming
  • The 8th installment of BitSummit was also postponed due to the COVID-19 scare

The Electronics Entertainment Expo, or E3, the world's biggest gaming convention, will not push with their 2020 plans due to the fear brought about by COVID-19.

While the Entertainment Software Association has not made the cancellation official, IGN said multiple gaming publishers are seeing the inevitable. Should they do so, it won't be a surprise considering COVID-19 is slowly crippling the gaming industry over health reasons.

E3 will join the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and South By Southwest 2020 (SXSW) as recent victims to have postponed their plans to protect the health and safety of its audience, staff and players.

E3
The Electronic Entertainment Expo this year will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center. E3 2019 will run from June 11 to 13 jeriaska / Flickr

Along this line, BitSummit, the famed indie games gathering, will also be moved to a later date over the same reasons.

Kotaku reported and shared a tweet from the organizers who said that The 8th Bit will no longer be held on May 9th and 10th since the spread of COVID-19 “does not show any sign of slowing down.

“The safety of our visitors and participants being our very first priority, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the event to avoid any chance of the virus spreading any further,” the tweet continued.

The same can be said when Tencent and PUG Corporation decided not to risk their players as they moved the “PUBG Mobile Pro League” South Asia tournament into an online spectacle over “unforeseen circumstances” courtesy of the outbreak, said Engadget.

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