Microsoft and Epic Games have pulled out of GDC over Coronavirus concerns

While GDC 2020 plans to continue despite the spread of Coronavirus (Covid-19), many of the event’s planned attendees have started abandoning the event en masse.    

Microsoft and Epic Games are now the newest companies to distance themselves from the event, with Epic Games explaining its exit in a recent Tweet while Microsoft releases a longer explanation on the company’s website. 

Both companies have cited health concerns as their reason for exiting the event, though Microsoft plans to stream most of its planned developer sessions and experiences, making them available for would-be attendees to watch them on demand. This will be done via Microsoft’s gamestack subdomain between March 16th and 18th. 

Microsoft and Epic Games are to more big players to add to the growing list of GDC 2020 dropouts, which already include Sony, Facebook, EA and Kojima Productions. At this rate, it is uncertain whether or not GDC will continue to go ahead as planned, as more and more developers are dropping out of the conference.

As Covid-19 becomes a larger health concern across the world, it makes sense for companies to limit employee travel and transition their in-person events into online video streams. The list of nations affected by Coronavirus is seemingly growing by the day, making the chance of infection a major concern for multinational companies and the nations that host them.