E3 Officially Cancelled Due To COVID-19 Coronavirus, SMITE And Pokemon GO Postpones Events
Over the past few weeks, a number of video game companies, both big and small, announced the cancellation of their gaming events due to concerns over the rapidly-spreading COVID-19 coronavirus. The Entertainment Software Associaton (ESA), however, stubbornly refused to cancel this year’s E3 in Los Angeles and maintained that the event will be going forward as planned.
Well, it looks like the ESA has finally seen reason and announced the cancellation of the event earlier today. Here’s an excerpt from the official press release:
“After careful consultation with our member companies regarding the health and safety of everyone in our industry – our fans, our employees, our exhibitors and our longtime E3 partners – we have made the difficult decision to cancel E3 2020, scheduled for June 9-11 in Los Angeles.
Following increased and overwhelming concerns about the COVID-19 virus, we felt this was the best way to proceed during such an unprecedented global situation. We are very disappointed that we are unable to hold this event for our fans and supporters. But we know it’s the right decision based on the information we have today.”
The ESA says that they’re currently looking at the possibility of bringing the event online instead.
Meanwhile, Hi-Rez Studios has delayed the SMITE Pro League Season Kickoff by at least three weeks while Niantic has postponed the Pokemon Go Safari Zone St. Louis and will be rescheduling the event within the next 12 months. Players who wish to request a refund may do so through in-app support. The deadline for refund requests is on March 25th at 11:59pm PT.
According to the latest reports, the virus has infected over 120,000 people and caused more than 4,300 deaths. Learn about the proper way of wearing medical masks in the video below.
