GDC 2020 to go ahead despite coronavirus concerns

The 2020 Game Developers Conference will take place as planned in March, despite concerns over the ongoing coronavirus (COVID19) outbreak.

However, in a note published on Thursday GDC organisers said that ongoing US travel restrictions will prevent any China-based exhibitors from attending the event or force them to send North American personnel to staff their booths.

It pointed out that this represents around 10 of the 550 companies hosted at GDC this year.

In addition, the restrictions mean that China-based conference attendees (around 2% of the total GDC attendance) will not be attending this year.

Tens of thousands of cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in mainland China, and around 400 additional cases in other countries.

On Wednesday the world’s biggest phone show, Mobile World Congress, was cancelled after its organiser said the coronavirus outbreak has made it “impossible” to hold the event. MWC 2020 was due to have a big Chinese presence.

GDC said it will implement physical measures to ensure that 2020 is a “healthy event”.

This includes the use of disinfecting electrostatic sprayers in high-traffic areas, a significant increase in hand sanitiser stations and daily carpet sanitisation in the Expo areas.

It said it would also work with San Francisco Travel to ensure that local hotels and venues are also increasing their cleanliness & hygiene regimes appropriately.

Nintendo recently delayed Switch hardware shipments to Japan and Korea due to the outbreak, while a leading investment bank has claimed that the outbreak could result in next-gen console launches being constrained or even delayed.