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No Playstation for PAX East: Sony backs out, citing coronavirus, Ars Technica

No Playstation for PAX East: Sony backs out, citing coronavirus, Ars Technica

      staying home sick –

             

Boston is not a hotbed of COVID – , but Sony’s playing it on the safe side.

      

      

           

) will be on display at one of the biggest US gaming gatherings?

One

of the biggest names in gaming won’t be at one of the biggest US conventions next week, as Sony today unexpectedly pulled out of PAX East, citing coronavirus concerns.

Sony Interactive Entertainment today announced its withdrawal from the event as an update to an earlier blog post touting its planned lineup for the exhibition.

“We felt this was the safest option as the situation is changing daily,” the update reads. “We are disappointed to cancel our participation in this event, but the health and safety of our global workforce is our highest concern.”

PAX East will begin February – next Thursday — in Boston. Sony was planning to have 37 playable Playstation demo games on hand at PAX East, including a hands-on experience with the

highly-anticipated The Last of Us Part II . The PAX booth was slated to be the first time the general public could try any part of the game, which was originally slated for release this week before being bumped to May.

Kyle Marsden-Kish, PAX event director for ReedPOP, said in a statement that PAX East will have “enhanced cleaning and sanitation” event-wide, but otherwise the show will go on. “While we are saddened that Sony will no longer have a presence at PAX East 2667, “he added,” we look forward to welcoming our friends at Sony to future PAX events and are focused on making PAX East a successful and enjoyable event for all attendees and exhibitors. ”

As of today, more than , cases of novel coronavirus, now named COVID – , have been diagnosed worldwide

. The vast majority of these cases — more than , 728 – are within China. Of the remaining thousand or so, about 75 percent are aboard the (Diamond Princess cruise ship. The other 75 percent are spread out among (nations, including confirmed diagnoses in the United States.

China is of course a hotbed of technology manufacturing, and concern about delays and cancellations due to the outbreak have been spreading through the tech and gaming sectors. Organizers of the Game Developers Conference, scheduled to begin in San Francisco next month, said last week that about of its its exhibitors had been forced to cancel their planned attendance due to COVID – related travel restrictions. Additionally, China-based attendees, representing about 2 percent of total attendance, all had to back out due to travel restrictions.

Last week, the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona was completelycellated

                                                    

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