Microsoft and Epic Games Latest Game Companies to Drop Out of GDC

Microsoft Game Stack has also announced that due to concerns over COVID-19, better known as the novel coronavirus, it will be dropping out of the 2020 Game Developers Conference (GDC). “After a close review of guidance by global health authorities and out of an abundance of caution, we’ve made the difficult decision to withdraw from participating at Game Developers Conference 2020 in San Francisco,” the company wrote in an official blog post. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=all-the-big-games-coming-in-2020&captions=true"] Instead, Microsoft Game Stack will host a series of digital-only events from March 16th to 18th which will cover a majority of the planned GDC sessions it was originally set to host. This includes panels on the cloud, the evolution of game development, and a behind-the-scenes look at the development of Microsoft titles like Minecraft and Gears of War. Other than panels Microsoft announced other events that have been thrown into uncertainty including the annual ID @ Xbox event showcasing indie games, and a Games Showcase. IGN has reached out to Microsoft to find out whether these events will still be hosted at GDC. Microsoft Game Stack is the latest developer to drop out of GDC following companies like PlayStation, Facebook Oculus, Kojima Productions, EA, Unity, and Epic Games which also made the announcement today. Meanwhile, GDC organizers say that they “are confident that Game Developers Conference will follow int he footsteps of other large and successful international events taking place at the Moscone Center,” and have not announced plans to cancel the event. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN.

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