Coronavirus just cost GDC 2020 another big exhibitor

The upcoming Game Developers Conference has lost another big name in the wake of the cornovirus outbreak (COVID-19), as Kojima Productions has announced that it won't be attending the show. Kojima Productions joins Sony and Facebook in dropping out of GDC 2020, with all of the companies citing uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus outbreak as their reasons from skipping the show.

Kojima Productions shared the news on Twitter today, splitting its statement up over a pair of tweets. "Kojima Productions has made the difficult decision to cancel our participation at the 2020 Game Developers Conference due to increasing concerns related to coronovirus," the company said.

Kojima Productions has made the difficult decision to cancel our participation at the 2020 Game Developers Conference due to increasing concerns related to coronavirus. (1/2)https://t.co/K6FJtq5Tpx

— KOJIMA PRODUCTIONS (Eng) (@KojiPro2015_EN) February 24, 2020

Given that Death Stranding is still a relatively new game, Kojima Productions probably didn't have anything new to announce at the show. However, both Hideo Kojima and Eric Johnson were scheduled to host sessions during the show, and those have both been cancelled.

GDC isn't the only big trade show to see exhibitors drop out because of coronavirus. Last week, Sony made a similar decision to skip PAX East, which begins later this week. A number of companies dropped out of Mobile World Congress as well, ultimately leading to that show's cancellation.

So far, the organizers of both PAX East and GDC have confirmed that the shows will still go on as planned. In the case of GDC, we may see more companies drop out before everything is said and done, especially if the coronavirus situation becomes more uncertain in the coming days and weeks. We'll let you know if any other major names decide to drop out of PAX East or GDC 2020, so stay tuned for more.