Kojima Productions is also pulling out of GDC

Joining Sony and Oculus

As concerns heighten due to the expansion of the coronavirus, yet another outfit has pulled out of another major trade show.

While Sony and Oculus (Facebook) have already announced their intentions of skipping GDC, Kojima Productions has revealed that it too will be missing the event. The message is fairly brief, but notes: “Kojima Productions has made the difficult decision to cancel our participation at the 2020 Game Developers Conference due to increasing concerns related to coronavirus. Although much-anticipated, unfortunately this cancellation also includes Hideo Kojima’s session on the 19th and Eric Johnson’s session on the 16th.”

That wasn’t just a nominal panel: but two panels, one of which was hosted by Kojima himself. It seems as if the prevailing mentality for eastern developers is to avoid exposure at major events: last week we said the recent pullouts wouldn’t be the last, and it seems as if they are cascading as we speak.

This isn’t a last-minute decision either, but a calculated one. GDC doesn’t start until March 16.

Kojima Productions [Twitter]