After multiple parties such as Sony, Kojima Productions, Facebook, and Oculus have canceled their plans on attending GDC and other events, EA has joined the list as they have confirmed that they will not be attending GDC due to fears of the Coronavirus. This information was revealed when an employee of EA shared post on linkedin.
The post, coming from Alex Sherer, Ad Product Development Specialist says: “Just received word from corporate, and EA will be limiting our presence at GDC, cancelling our participation in official GDC events, and all EA employees have been advised to not travel to San Francisco for the conference.” EA has since confirmed the news, releasing a statement to Gamespot which reads:
Having closely followed the global situation with Coronavirus and with the recent escalation of cases in new regions, we have decided to take additional steps to protect the wellbeing of our employees including the restriction of all non-essential travel. As a result we are also cancelling our official participation at GDC and limiting attendance to other events. We are continuing to monitor the situation and will adjust guidelines to our employees as we feel is appropriate.
Fear of the Coronavirus hasn’t just stopped companies from attending events but has affected other things as well. Back when the virus seemed to be limited around China, week 2 of the Legends Pro League was canceled. The Nintendo Switch version of The Outer Worlds was also delayed due to the studio working on the port being impacted by the Coronavirus and staying closed.
This isn’t the only time EA has been involved with banning this week. They have released a statement revealing that the company has banned a FIFA player from every EA game and online service due to multiple rants and threats made against the company.