Update: Unreal, Unity, EA, Kowloon Nights, Oculus have also that due to Coronavirus’ concern, they will miss the event.
GDC 2020 has today gotten less interesting, the reason is that Microsoft won’t be in the conference, amid fears of further propagation of the dangerous COVID-19 ( Coronavirus ) the industry giant has decided that it’s best to protect their workforce and avoid the contamination of attendees.
Microsoft has released an official statement explaining the situation, Microsoft’s presence will be a “Digital-Only” even from March 16, to March 18 throughout GameStack. The event will showcase the majority of the planned game developer sessions and experiences, the event will be streamed live.
After a close review of guidance by global health authorities and out of an abundance of caution, we’ve made the difficult decision to withdraw from participating at Game Developers Conference 2020 in San Francisco. The health and safety of players, developers, employees, and our partners around the world is our top priority.
Microsoft has announced what will be featured on the livestream.
Join us to learn about the latest in cloud and game development technologies through our technical talks and developer demos
Tune into panel discussions with industry leaders about the evolution of game development, intentionally inclusive game design, the increasing role of online services, next gen hardware, and the future of game streaming.
Get a behind-the-scenes look into design and development decisions made by the creators of Minecraft and Gears of War, and hear from Xbox Game Studios teams Double Fine, inXile, Compulsion, Rare, Obsidian, and Undead Labs
Exactly a week ago, Sony also reached the same conclusion about whether if attending was the right choice, Kojima Productions shorty followed the prudent decision. Microsoft’s Team Game Stack takes the opportunity to ratify that GDC has always been that special occasion to unite developers and players and celebrate their vision of Gaming for Everyone.
While we won’t be able to bring our G4E events online, we remain committed to celebrating and amplifying our diverse communities in gaming throughout the year.
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