×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

News
Anime Detour, TFcon Orlando Cancelled; Florida Supercon, WonderCon Postponed

posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Some Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG regional qualifiers cancelled in N. America, Latin America; more events in U.S., Japan cancelled

The Anime Detour convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota announced on Friday that it has cancelled the event due to concerns about the COVID-19 coronavirus illness. The event was scheduled to be held on April 3-5.

In the United States, other cancelled or postponed events include:

  • The WonderCon event in Anaheim that was set to take place on April 10-12 is postponed. Source: Deadline

  • Diamond Comic Distributors informed ANN via a press release that its 2020 Retailer Summit, set to be held in conjunction with Mega Con in Orlando on April 14-16, is cancelled.

  • The Transformers-themed TFcon Orlando 2020 event planned for March 20-22 is cancelled.

  • The Pokémon GO Community Day event planned for March 15 is postponed. Niantic told the Polygon news website that it is “prioritizing updates to Pokémon GO features and experiences that can be enjoyed in individual settings.”

  • The "Dragon Ball Symphonic Adventure" concert in Rosemont, Illinois scheduled for March 27 has been cancelled.

  • Organizers of the Florida Supercon event scheduled for May 8-10 in Miami Beach informed ANN via email that they are postponing the event to July 3-5.

  • Konami has informed ANN via email that it has postponed the following Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series events: in Charlotte, North Carolina (scheduled for March 28-29) and in Hartford, Connecticut (scheduled for April 18-19). In addition, Konami has cancelled the 225th Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series event that was scheduled to take place on March 14-15 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The company has also cancelled all Regional Qualifiers scheduled through April 6 in North America and Latin America.

Additionally, Microsoft's Phil Spencer posted on Twitter on Thursday that Microsoft will host a digital Xbox event now that the E3 2020 event has been cancelled. Ubisoft similarly stated on Thursday it is exploring options to have a digital event.

Regarding the postponement of the GDC 2020 event, the organizers of the event have announced that several speakers who had planned to give talks at the event will stream recorded versions of the their talks.

In Japan, the following events have been cancelled or postponed:

  • The finals for a Monster Hunter World: Iceborne tournament set to be held on March 21 has been cancelled. Source: 4Gamer

  • The "Duel Masters Teen Tour" event scheduled for eight locations between April 26 and June 7 has been cancelled.

  • A Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba exhibition scheduled in Tokyo from March 20 through April 7 is cancelled. Source: Eiga.com

  • The Final Fantasy VII Remake "mystery-solving event" scheduled to be held on Tokyo's Yamanote Line is cancelled and instead moved to a smartphone-based event to be held through March 28.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said on February 27 that the government is asking elementary, junior high, and high schools to close until the end of spring break in early April to contain the spread of COVID-19. The government is also encouraging children and others to stay home and avoid large gatherings for the next few weeks.

The first reported cases of COVID-19 were in Wuhan, China in December, and then the disease began to spread in varying rates and intensities across many parts of the globe through incubation in human hosts. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a world health emergency on January 30, and announced on Wednesday that it is classifying the outbreak as a pandemic. As of Friday, the WHO reported that there are 132,758 infected individuals worldwide, including 51,767 outside China. 4,955 individuals have died from the disease, including 1,775 outside China.

As of Friday, the WHO reported that Japan has 675 cases of COVID-19 with 19 deaths. These numbers do not include the number of cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama. That cruise ship had 696 infected passengers with seven deaths. The WHO has reported that the United States has 1,264 cases with 36 deaths as of Friday.

[GDC news via Siliconera, E3 news via Siliconera, Transformers news via TFW 2005, Pokémon GO news via Siliconera, Final Fantasy VII Remake news via Siliconera]


discuss this in the forum (20 posts) |
bookmark/share with: short url

News homepage / archives