Along with Kojima Productions, Electronic Arts will also not be attending the Game Developers Conference this March. The cause? Coronovirus. Both organizations have withdrawn their scheduled appearance at the event due to the pandemic.
Having closely followed the global situation with Coronavirus and with the recent escalation of cases in new regions, we have decided to take additional steps to protect the well being of our employees including the restriction of all non-essential travel. As a result we are also cancelling our official participation at GDC and limiting attendance to other events.
This will no doubt be a blow to the event. Not having just one, but two big named groups withdraw attendance can’t be too good of a news. Though there is room for EA to change their minds, as the note ends with them closely monitoring the situation.
This decision is indeed quite strange. Perhaps it is for the sake of avoiding airport travel, as the GDC takes place at California, CA and carries little to no risk of being infected by said virus. Most carries of the disease lie within the East Asia, specifically China.
Source: PushSquare