TwitchCon San Diego has become the latest major video game event to be canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
TwitchCon said that it has decided to cancel the event because of “restrictions on large gatherings and ongoing concerns for the health and safety of our community,” according to a tweet Thursday.
Amazon-0wned Twitch had planned to hold TwitchCon San Diego between September 25 and September 27. The company had also planned an event in Amsterdam, appropriately called TwitchCon Amsterdam, but canceled that event in March because of the pandemic.
Twitch holds two TwitchCon events each year, where the platform’s users and others can come together for meet-and-greets, esports tournaments, live gaming, and more. It’s usually held over a weekend, with a variety of events throughout the three-day stretch. Twitch also usually uses its event to announce new features.
Twitch held its first TwitchCon at the Moscone Center in San Francisco in 2015 with an audience of around 20,000 people. Last year’s TwitchCon San Diego had 28,000 attendees.
Of course, Twitch’s decision to cancel the event wasn’t necessarily a surprise. Other major gaming events, including the E3 gaming expo that had been slated for June, was canceled because of the pandemic. Sports and other live events, including SXSW and countless others, have also been shelved. Even though TwitchCon was scheduled for September, no public health experts expect major live events with tens of thousands of people attending to be allowed anytime soon.
But that doesn’t mean that TwitchCon won’t happen in some form later this year. In fact, Twitch said that it’s trying to come up with plans for an alternative to TwitchCon it can still celebrate in 2020.
“We are gutted that we won’t be able to see all of you in person to connect and show you what we’ve been creating for you over the past year,” Twitch said in a tweet. “While we can’t gather in person, we’re exploring ways that we could join forces in an alternate dimension later this year. We’ll keep you posted.”
While it’s unclear what that “alternate dimension” might mean for Twitch, most companies, including Microsoft, Sony, and EA, have turned to livestreams to keep making announcements.
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