Endgame: How the coronavirus affected the gaming industry. Part three (Topic)

We continue to write about how the coronavirus epidemic has impacted the gaming industry. If last month we could say that its impact is not so significant, at the moment, when quarantine has been declared in many parts of the world, the industry has suffered significantly. Here are the new incidents of COVID-19's impact on gaming.

Cancel E3

Probably the loudest news related to the epidemic in the gaming environment was the news of the cancellation of E3 2020. Despite the fact that the exhibition itself had problems [it lost its creative leaders, as well as one of the leaders in the person of Jeff Keely], indeed it became uneasy when a state of emergency was declared in Los Angeles after 6 infections.

Initially, the organizers, the Entertainment Software Association [ESA], tried to keep everything under control and assured that the exhibition was not in danger and that they would take appropriate protection measures. But a few days later, rumors leaked that the exhibition would be canceled, after which ESA made a statement about the cancellation of E3 2020 and a refund of funds to participants and visitors.

ESA is currently considering options with online broadcasting of game announcements and news. Officially E3 will return in 2021.

So far, we know that it was supposed to present a new game about Batman, an RPG based on the Harry Potter universe and the next project of Rocksteady Studios.

However, the fact that E3 was canceled does not mean that the industry will be mothballed. For example, the head of the Xbox, Phill Spencer, said that Microsoft will hold their online event, where they will talk about the nextgen and new games.

They were joined by Ubisoft, who are also preparing a similar event. So far, we have no specifics from both companies, but we will wait.

Bringing BAFTA Game Awards 2020 Online

Many other gaming exhibitions and events have been canceled anyway. BAFTA Game Awards 2020 was one of the most significant.

April 2 The British Academy of Motion Picture and Television Arts was to host an award ceremony for the best games of the past year. But for obvious reasons, it was moved from Queen Elizabeth Hall to the online format. Fortunately, the date has not changed.

Death Stranding and Control are leading in the number of nominations this year. Both games have 11.

TurboGrafx-16 mini sales postponed

Let's move on from exhibitions to goods. The retro console from Konami TurboGrafx-16 mini, which was supposed to be released on March 19, will hit the shelves later. When exactly is unknown.

The console has been discontinued due to production and delivery systems being suspended in China. It is unknown when they will resume.

As a reminder, the console has three different versions for different regions. TurboGrafx-16 mini - North and South American version. PC Engine mini is the version for the domestic market in Japan. And PC Engine Core Grafx mini is a console for the European continent.

Everspace 2 moved

The creators of the space simulator Everspace 2 studio ROCKFISH Games have announced that they are postponing the release of the game in Early Access, as well as the timing of testing.

How does this relate to the coronavirus? The developers planned to visit GDC 2020, where they wanted to meet with potential publishers of their game, as well as representatives of various gaming platforms. But since the exhibition was postponed until the summer, the developers postponed their plans.

But the coronavirus itself only finished off the studio's plans. Initially, the Poles from CD Projekt Red hit in the gut, which were postponed to September Cyberpunk 2077. The release of the game from ROCKFISH Games was also scheduled for September. The studio decided that they would not even try to compete with the AAA project.

Now the game will be released only in early December.

Positive change on Discord, remote work at DICE and Bungie

Surprisingly, during the outbreak, there was also good news related to the disease, no matter how strange it may sound. In order to support those who now work remotely, Discord has increased the number of people who can watch the stream.

Previously, 10 people could watch him, but now this number has increased to 50. This is useful if you need to demonstrate the process of work to a large number of people in real time. So far, the regime can lag if 50 people are watching the stream at once, but they will work on this. Such an initiative of the site will last 2 months.

Many companies have already sent employees to work remotely, for example, DICE. Despite the fact that all employees now work from home, no one will turn off the server. However, due to changing operating conditions, update delays may occur. But not the fact that they will be.

Also, Bungie employees have officially gone to remote control. Their office is located in Seattle, Washington. 31 cases of COVID-19 infection have already been detected in this region. The studio developed plans for remote work for a couple of weeks, and also introduced several technological solutions so that employees could contact each other.

Destiny 2 will not be disrupted. Unless some of the upcoming matches may be somehow affected. The rest of the planned events will take place in the game without delay.

More events and great events

And now let's take a quick look at other events and activities that have been affected in one way or another by the epidemic.

• LoL e-sportsman Lee Sang Hyuk donated about $ 25,000 to the fight against coronavirus. Many of his team members said they followed Lee's lead.
• SXSW 2020 is an exhibition dedicated to films, music and games. It was not canceled, but moved online. It was also supposed to have a panel dedicated to Sonic.
• Minecraft Festival is a living reincarnation of the MineCon festival for Minecraft, which Mojang held from 2010 to 2016. The event was canceled. All important announcements will be posted online.
• The Overwatch League will run a competition without a live audience throughout March and April.
• Dota 2 Major has been postponed to unknown dates due to the quarantine in Los Angeles. The event was originally held from 20 to 22 March.
• Capcom has changed the schedule for the Street Fighter 2 - Capcom pro Tour. Many stages of the tournament have been postponed to June.

This is the latest news on how the coronavirus has impacted the gaming industry. In the future, we will limit ourselves only to news in digests, unless something major happens like the cancellation of E3 2020.

Also read our first and second articles on this topic.

The Topic of Article: Endgame: How the coronavirus affected the gaming industry. Part three.
Author: Jake Pinkman