It looks like GDC has taken another casualty as Kojima Productions has announced that it is pulling out of the event due to coronavirus concerns. This cancellation follows the likes of Sony and Facebook who have announced their absence over the last week. This cancellation comes as an even bigger hit since Kojima was slated to give a 1 hour presentation on the thought process behind Death Stranding. you can read the companies official statement below.
“Kojima Productions has made the difficult decision to cancel our participation at the 2020 Game Developers Conference due to increasing concerns related to coronavirus. Although highly-anticipated, this cancellation unfortunately includes Hideo Kojima’s session on [March 19] and Eric Johnson’s session on [March 16].”
It is unfortunate to see the loss of what would have likely been a very insightful panel at this years GDC. While coronavirus isn’t that widespread in the US, the amount of travel involved with the event is likely to increase risk. It is also great to see companies not risk their employees health over something like an event. Hopefully if any new information was going to be shared by Kojima he will find another avenue to due so.
