Sony Cancels PAX East Appearance Citing the Coronavirus

Sony PAX East Cancelled

Sony will no longer be appearing at PAX East this year. While originally scheduled to appear in Boston at the end of the month, the company updated its PAX East blog post to explain that they will no longer be attending. Citing health and safety concerns due to the novel coronavirus, all first-party PlayStation titles will no longer be at the convention. This is mainly due to there being actual cases of people becoming infected with the virus in this city.

Along with major titles like The Last of Us Part II and the Final Fantasy VII Remake, a variety of other games were destined to be showcased by Sony during PAX East. We spoke to a source that wished to remain nameless that confirmed all games, third-party or first-party, will not be appearing at Sony’s booth during PAX East. While some games which have their own booth at PAX East will still be there, those entirely relying on Sony will not.

Here is Sony’s statement on why they chose to skip PAX East this year:

UPDATE: Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment made the decision to cancel its participation at PAX East in Boston this year due to increasing concerns related to COVID-19 (also known as “novel coronavirus”). We felt this was the safest option as the situation is changing daily. We are disappointed to cancel our participation in this event, but the health and safety of our global workforce is our highest concern.

Developer Naughty Dog took to Twitter to issue an apology to their fans for canceling their attendance. The developer assures players that they will have more to share about their highly anticipated game once we get closer to the May 29 launch. Square Enix has not commented on the decision at the time of writing this.

This isn’t the first time the coronavirus has impacted the gaming industry. Nintendo recently revealed that the Animal Crossing version of the Switch and additional accessories will be delayed in Japan. There’s been no word on if this will impact other regions or the release of future games.

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