Sony has announced that it is canceling its participation in the upcoming PAX East due to concerns over COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus.
The company announced the news as an update to its PlayStation Blog post detailing its PAX East plans. “Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment made the decision to cancel its participation at PAX in Boston this year due to increasing concerns related to COVID-19 (also known as “novel coronavirus”)[,]” Sony wrote in an update to its February 13 blog post.
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Sony was originally scheduled to present the first playable public demo for The Last of Us Part 2 at PAX East. Other games in Sony’s PAX East lineup included Marvel’s Iron Man VR, Nioh 2, Doom Eternal, Spelunky 2, and more.
It is unclear if the demo will still be available since Sony has decided to pull out of the event. IGN has reached out to Sony for more details, including whether The Last of Us Part 2 will still be available as a demo at the show.
We’re so sad to have to miss PAX East! We were really looking forward to meeting you and seeing your reactions to the demo. Although we know this makes the wait until May 29 a bit harder, we appreciate your understanding. Don’t worry, we’ll have more to share closer to launch. https://t.co/tIJ0Z7Ztcs
— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) February 19, 2020
The outbreak of COVID-19 has interrupted several planned gaming events already. Overwatch announced it will temporarily relocate its Chinese teams to South Korea, and Nintendo confirmed the outbreak will impact Animal Crossing: New Horizons shipments in Japan.
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Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter.
Source: IGN.com Sony Won't Be at PAX East Anymore