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Game Developers Conference moves to August — if COVID-19 is no longer a factor

The postponed Game Developers Conference will take place in 2020 after all, albeit over a shorter time period.

GDC 2020 was initially scheduled to take place this month, but the fast spread of coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, forced organizer Informa Tech to cancel plans. The rescheduled GDC Summer event will serve as a replacement this August, provided that the coronavirus is no longer a factor.

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“Safety remains the GDC organizers’ paramount concern, and the GDC team will continue to monitor the latest information from health officials to ensure a safe and compelling event for everyone at GDC Summer, GDC 2021, and beyond,” Informa Tech said in an announcement.

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Running from August 4 through 6 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, GDC Summer will consist of several “microtalks” and fireside chats for developers to discuss their games, connect with other creators, and dive into technical content. The March GDC event was set to run for five days rather than three, so the new version will be shorter. It will still have a two-day expo show floor component on August 5 and 6.

A shorter show is to be expected, as many companies are already moving forward with the announcements and talks they phad lanned for GDC. Microsoft and Sony each held presentations this week on their upcoming consoles, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, respectively.

The show will also have a new community partnership program that lets organizations apply for meeting and gathering space. Board meetings, podcast recordings, and portfolio reviews all typically take place during the annual conference and would qualify. The program is designed to let smaller organizations participate in GDC that otherwise wouldn’t be able to.

 

San Francisco has at least 70 confirmed coronavirus cases thus far, up more than double from the beginning of the week.

Organizers will also host a Virtual GDC. Running through Friday, March 20, the event features streamed talks from a variety of game developers to discuss their projects and the challenges they face. Recorded presentations are available on the official GDC Twitch channel, and Friday’s presentations include developers from Microsoft, Netease, and Unbound Creations.

The coronavirus already forced the Entertainment Software Association to cancel E3 2020 last week, even though the massive event was slated months out in June. Several game publishers, including Microsoft, Square Enix, and Ubisoft, already announced they will have replacement digital events to show off upcoming games.

Now gamers and the rest of the industry look to Gamescom 2020, which is currently scheduled for August. Gamescom has not been canceled, but the Germany-based conference sees hundreds of thousands of attendees each year, dwarfing both GDC and E3. With the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 globally, a cancellation of Gamescom wouldn’t be surprising.

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Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
With E3 2022 canceled, these are the summer gaming events to watch
E3 logo

We learned this week that 2022 will be the second year since 1995 to not have any kind of E3 expo. While the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) says E3's physical and digital cancelation this year enables it to "devote all our energy and resources to delivering a revitalized physical and digital E3 experience next summer," it also raises questions regarding how game announcements will happen this summer. Companies like Microsoft and Nintendo often tie big reveals to E3, so what is the industry's plan now that E3 2022 is officially canceled?
So far, we only know of a couple of events that will take place, though there's still time for a lot more to be announced. For those wondering how E3 2022's cancelation will impact summer 2022's game reveal landscape, we've broken down everything that is and isn't happening -- and that might happen -- in the coming months. 
What's not happening
E3's absence leaves a crater in the usual gaming hype cycle. Typically, the yearly event took place for a week in Los Angeles and served as a spot where game publishers could announce and advertise their upcoming slates of titles and game-related products. In 2020, the ESA canceled the event due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it returned digitally in 2021 with mixed results. 

On March 31, the event organizers at the ESA confirmed that there would be no digital or physical E3 event this year. That was quite surprising as more and more in-person events are returning, and the ESA even demonstrated that it could hold the event digitally before. The event may return in 2023, but this year the E3 event that typically consolidates many gaming announcements to one week in June won't play out like normal.
Outside of E3, we also know that EA won't hold its yearly EA Play Live event this summer. Typically, the publisher has its own events outside of E3, but chose not to this year because "this year things aren't lining up to show you everything on one date." That means that if we get new information on titles like the Dead Space remake or the next Dragon Age and Mass Effect, it won't be at an E3-adjacent event. 
What is happening
There are still some major gaming events that will take place this summer. This June, the biggest one is Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest. The creator of The Game Awards plans to hold a Summer Game Fest Kickoff Livestream full of new trailers and announcements. Last year's event featured the release date of Elden Ring, so there are certainly high expectations surrounding the showcase, especially as E3 won't be drawing away any reveals. An indie-focused Day of the Devs presentation and other Summer Game Fest-branded events are also expected to take place this June. Keighley tweeted that Summer Game Fest festivities "will be less than one month this year." 
IGN confirmed that its Summer of Gaming event would also take place in June and feature exclusive trailers, gameplay, and interviews. Bethesda has also teased that it will show Starfield this summer, and we're supposed to get another look at Final Fantasy XVI soon.
As for in-person events, a couple of them are happening later in the summer. Gamescom, a European gaming expo equivalent to E3, will happen in person in Cologne, Germany. In Japan, the Tokyo Game Show will be the final big in-person summer event between September 15 and 18. While E3 might not be happening, it's clear that some digital showcases will happen this summer and that events outside of America are still on track to take place in person. 

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