Unity has issued a statement saying that the company has made the “difficult decision” to withdraw from GDC 2020 over coronavirus concerns.
In a statement published on the official Unity blog, the company confirmed that it opted to cancel its appearance after deciding that COVID-19 (also commonly known as ‘novel coronavirus’) presents too much risk. As such, the company has advised all its employees to refrain from travelling to the event.
Instead of having a physical presence at GDC, Unity will be showcasing its content online for all to enjoy. More details on this content will be released in the coming weeks.
You can read Unity’s statement in full below.
GDC is always our favorite time of year at Unity. It’s a chance for us to connect with creators, customers, players, and partners from around the world.
Unfortunately, this year, after much thought and deliberation, we have made the difficult decision to pull out of GDC 2020. While we did not make this decision lightly, the current conditions with COVID-19 (also known as Novel Coronavirus) present too much risk. We take our employees’ wellbeing very seriously. We do not want any Unity employee or partner to compromise their health and safety unnecessarily.
We’re advising all employees to refrain from traveling to GDC. We will no longer have a physical presence with a booth, but will instead showcase the great GDC content we’ve been working towards online. Expect more details in the coming weeks.
The Game Developers Conference has always done a fantastic job in uniting the games industry. We look forward to showing our support at next year’s event.
Unity is the latest in a series of companies to withdraw from GDC 2020. Electronic Arts, Kojima Productions, PlayStation, and Facebook Gaming have also all announced that, due to the coronavirus outbreak, they will be cancelling their appearances at the event.
GDC 2020 will take place between March 16th and 20th, 2020, in San Francisco, California.
At the time of publishing, there have been 81,109 cases of COVID-19 confirmed globally, with 2,718 deaths confirmed in China and 44 deaths outside of China.
While COVID-19 should cause only mild illness in the majority of healthy people, there is a risk of serious illness and even death in some people. Older people and those with pre-existing medical conditions appear to be more vulnerable to COVID-19.
Maintaining good hygiene practices, such as washing your hands regularly and covering your mouth when you cough and sneeze, can help to prevent the spread of most viruses and keep yourself safe from infection.