Update: We've heard back from EA and they've provided us with a statement about the EA GDC 2020 sessions being canceled. They're not just backing out of GDC 2020 — they'll also be limiting their attendance to other events in the near future.
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 wellbeing 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. We are continuing to monitor the situation and will adjust guidelines to our employees as we feel is appropriate.
We will continue to watch the situation as more companies continue to dip out of GDC.
Original Story: The GDC cancellations are continuing — it looks like EA GDC 2020 will be skipping most of their planned events.
If you're a wee bit out of the loop, GDC is the Game Developer's Conference. This is an annual industry show that gets a lot done. Sometimes there's new announcements or other cool events, but the big focus is typically on "sessions" where various developers from studios around the world talk about the games they've made and how they created them.
We've been seeing more and more companies pull out of GDC 2020 due to fears of the coronavirus — and now Electronic Arts has just joined them. EA GDC 2020 is off.
Why was EA GDC 2020 Cancelled?
News of the cancellation broke in an update (archived) via the LinkedIn Profile of an Electronic Arts' Ad Product Development Specialist named Alex Sherer.
Here's what his message said about EA's pulling back from participating in GDC 2020:
Hello all,
Just received word from corporate, and EA will be limiting our presence at GDC, cancelling our participation in official GDC events, and all EA employees have been advised to not travel to San Francisco for the conference.
I'm terribly sorry, but this means I will be cancelling any and all GDC related meetings, dinners, coffee meetups and mixers. I will do my best to send individual communications as well, but please know I send my deepest regrets that I won't be seeing everyone for GDC 2020.Please be safe everyone, travel only if/when it is necessary, and hopefully we will all meet-up IRL when the global climate and safety permit.
We've yet to hear any official confirmation from EA themselves; we've reached out to the company and to GDC and will update this article when we receive a reply.
What do you think of the EA GDC 2020 sessions being canceled? Do you think the company is making the smart move in skipping this year's show? Let us know in the comments below!
