The new breed of Coronavirus, spread out of China, has infected thousands across the globe. And as fears over public spreading and governmental preparedness worsen, the companies of the world are bracing for major problems. Production in various sectors of the global economy has sagged as Chinese manufacturing is hit hard by the virus and the fear surrounding it, leading to work stoppages and other issues.
Various gaming companies have admitted that production has slowed and that public events are being shuttered all to help slow the spread of the virus, and it seems like the list keeps growing. Nintendo has expressed concerns over Switch console production in the last few weeks. Other gaming and public events have been affected as well. Chinese League of Legends and CS:GO events were also canned.
Many video game companies have also expressed concerns over the respiratory infection, canceling events and public appearances. And it seems that Kojima Productions is the latest of these companies to announce that they will be taking preventative measures to help reduce the spread of the virus. According to Kojima Productions, the company is taking these steps due to “increasing concerns related to coronavirus.”
Being frank, the company announced that concerns over COVID-19, otherwise known as coronavirus prompted this decision.
“Kojima Productions has made the difficult decision to cancel our participation at the 2020 Game Developers Conference due to increasing concerns related to novel coronavirus. Although much-anticipated, unfortunately this cancellation also includes Hideo Kojima’s session on the 19th and Eric Johnson’s session on the 16th,” the post reads.
Sony and Facebook have also announced their cancellation of plans to appear at PAX East, another major gaming event beset by worry over the coronavirus.
GDC issued a statement saying that they take the health and safety of the community very seriously and that the organization and the event are taking all the steps they can to ensure the health and safety of those at the event proper.
