Kojima Productions to miss GDC because of the coronavirus

The company called it a “difficult decision”

 Kojima Productions will no longer be attending GDC, owing to “increasing concerns” over the coronavirus outbreak (via VG247).

Sony and Oculus have also chosen to forgo the event to reduce the risk posed to attendees and employees. “Kojima Productions has made the difficult decision to cancel our participation at the 2020 Game Developers Conference due to increasing concerns related to coronavirus,” read the announcement from its official Twitter account. “Although much-anticipated, unfortunately this cancellation also includes Hideo Kojima’s session on the 19th and Eric Johnson’s session on the 16th.”
The organisers of GDC emphasised that it will be a “healthy event,” and will use disinfecting electrostatic sprayers in especially busy areas of the venue and daily carpet sanitisation in the Expo areas. “The GDC team is following developments around the Novel Coronavirus closely as we take the health and safety of our game development community very seriously,” it said in a statement given to IGN. “Following the strict quarantine laws put in place by the US government and guidance from the Department of Public Health, WHO and CDC, which has seen us put in place enhanced on-site measures, we are confident that the Game Developers Conference will follow in the footsteps of other large and successful international events taking place at the Moscone Center. As always, we thank the GDC community for their support and look forward to welcoming back those who haven’t been able to join us this year.”