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EVO, GDC 2020 Move to Online Events; Geoff Keighley Announces Summer Game Fest Digital Event
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The organizers of the EVO 2020 video game tournament announced on Friday that the physical event that was slated to be held on July 31-August 2 in Las Vegas is cancelled due to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The organizers stated they are moving the event online this summer, and will reveal more information at a later date.
Similarly, the organizers of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) announced on Thursday that the planned GDC Summer event is now going to be an online-only event taking place on August 4-6.
The organizers announced in February that the 2020 event was postponed until this summer, and then announced in March that the event would take place on August 4-6 in San Francisco. The event was originally scheduled for March 16-20 in San Francisco.
In other video game event news, Geoff Keighley, producer and creator of The Game Awards, announced on Saturday that he is involved in a new digital event called "Summer Game Fest." The seasonal event will be held from May through August, and will include "news, in-game events, and playable content from the entire video game industry." The event's Twitter account added that "Phase 1" of the event will include participation by Bandai Namco Entertainment, Square Enix, and Sony, among other developers such as Blizzard, EA, CD Projekt, Activision, and Bethesda. The event's schedule will launch on Tuesday, with "new game announcements" starting next week.
The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) announced in March that it had cancelled this year's E3 video game trade show, which was slated for June. Similarly, the organizers of the Gamescom event planned for August 25-29 in Germany announced in April that the physical event was cancelled, but the organizers have stated that the event "will definitely take place digitally."
Platinum Games Inc. announced on Twitter on Friday that it is delaying the physical release of its The Wonderful 101: Remastered game until June 30 for North America and July 3 for Europe. The digital releases will still launch on May 19 in North America and May 22 in Europe.
Sources: EVO's Twitter account via Siliconera, GDC via Gematsu, Geoff Keighley's Twitter account, Summer Game Fest's Twitter account, Platinum Games' Twitter account via Siliconera
