For all its antivirus protection, the tech world is coming to a realization that it’s no match for deadly biological viruses.<\/p>\n
Not only has IDC already predicted that this novel coronavirus could lead to a decline in PC sales this year<\/u><\/a>, with so many factories shutting down and demand already dropping. But also, many tech trade shows and events have already been cancelled.<\/p>\n The latest in this string of cancellations is the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2020<\/u><\/a> in San Francisco. It was supposed to take place from March 16 through 20.<\/p>\n According to an update on the GDC website, Informatech, the organization behind GDC, “made the difficult decision to postpone the Game Developers Conference this March” after a “close consultation with our partners in the game development industry and community around the world.”<\/p>\n It’s no surprise that GDC 2020 finally threw its hands up in defeat. GDC 2020 has been gradually shrinking in the last few days due to big exhibitors pulling out. <\/p>\n Sony and Oculus were the first ones to go, pulling out more than a week ago, followed by EA, Hideo Kojima, PlayStation and Facebook. A day before the cancellation, Microsoft, Epic and Unity also dropped out, with Microsoft citing concerns<\/u><\/a> for the “wellbeing of our teams & community” due to the “growing public health risks associated with coronavirus (COVID-19).”<\/p>\n With so many of its big players dropping out, it was just a matter of time before other exhibitors followed suit. And, the number of conference attendees would have considerably dropped as well – Facebook, for one, has said that it’s “advising all employees to refrain from traveling to the show.”<\/p>\n The San Francisco Bay Area has recently announced two community transmission cases<\/u><\/a> of COVID-19. This has prompted some media outlets<\/u><\/a> to dub Northern California the “epicenter of what officials are calling the turning point in the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus.” So, having a massive conference with attendees from all over the world sharing gaming consoles, VR headsets and other gaming-related tech might not be the best idea.<\/p>\n It’s not all bad news, however. Microsoft is planning to host a “digital-only event” from March 16-18, so it’s still set to make the announcements it planned to make at the conference.<\/p>\n\n
All the big companies have pulled out <\/h3>\n