The attendees for GDC 2020 continues to shrink as EA is the most recent company to announce it will not be attending the conference due to fear of coronavirus. The number of reported cases of the virus have grown exponentially since December and so far over 2,500 people have died.

Several other companies have decided to either not attend the conference this year or at least reduce their presence in order to ensure their employees can avoid getting sick. Earlier this month Facebook announced that it would not be attending GDC physically and would instead livestream new reveals to attendees. This means there will be no booths set up for new Oculus reveals at the event this year. Yesterday, Kojima Productions stated it would not be attending GDC in any capacity. This also means that Hideo Kojima himself will not be there to give his presentation on Death Stranding. This is all not to mention the fact that Sony will not be attending GDC either this year.

GamesIndustry.biz reports that EA has decided to sit this year out in order to protect the health of it’s employees. EA said, “we have decided to take additional steps to protect the wellbeing of our employees including the restriction of all non-essential travel”. EA also stated that it will be limiting it’s attendance at other events as well, which could potentially affect the company’s presence at PAX and E3 this year.

GDC is not the only event that has been impacted by the coronavirus scare. Sony decided to pull out of PAX East just a week before the event started because of the virus. Once again Sony was concerned for the safety of it’s employees and the potential of spreading the virus further. The downside to this decision though is that Sony fans will not have a chance to check out the company’s newest games. Originally Sony had planned on having a booth that would allow attendees to play demos for Doom Eternal, Nioh 2, and The Last of Us 2.

The coronavirus has put a lot of the world on edge for the last several months. The fear of becoming sick or further spreading the virus has caused many to opt out of going anywhere that involves large groups of people. EA deciding not to attend GDC this year is a major blow for the conference, and will most likely affect the amount of attendees this year. If any other large company decides to drop out, it may make more sense for GDC to be postponed.

Next: Mission: Impossible 7 Halts Production In Italy Due to Coronavirus

Source: GamesIndustry.biz