Gamescom 2020 Is Still A Go For August, More Video Game Companies Transition To Work-From-Home Amid COVID-19 Threat

Here’s more COVID-19-related news today. Over the past few months, a number of gaming companies and organizers have announced the cancellation of their events, including GDC, EVE Fanfest 2020, and more recently, E3. gamescom 2020, however, which is scheduled for August in Cologne, , is still getting a green light from its organizers since it’s still a few months away. Here’s their official statement on Twitter:

“We are currently receiving enquiries about how a possible threat from the Corona virus could possibly affect gamescom.

We take this topic seriously because the health of all trade fair visitors and partners is our top priority.

On 10.03.2020, the city of Cologne banned all major events with more than 1,000 participants up to and including 10.04.2020 on the basis of a decree issued by the state government on the same day. Since gamescom takes place at the end of August 2020, we are currently not affected by this decree. However, we will of course follow the recommendations of the responsible authorities regarding major events, evaluate them on a daily basis, and make our decisions after careful consideration. The preparations for the #gamescom2020 are continuing as planned according to the current status for the determined date.

Should gamescom be postponed or cancelled by Koelnmesse, all ticket purchasers of the official ticket shop will be reimbursed for the already paid visitor tickets. Voucher codes lose their validity and will be made available again for new events.

We look forward to you and your participation.”

In other COVID-19-related news, Hi-Rez Studios has also temporarily postponed ticket sales for Hi-Rez Expo 2021. “Due to the increasing concern and rapidly changing details surrounding COVID-19, the team feels that it would be in poor taste to open up ticket sales for our largest event of the year at this time,” tweeted Hi-Rez. “After much consideration, we’ve decided to delay the sale of Hi-Rez Expo 2021 tickets until further notice. [. . .] We have no reason to believe Hi-Rez Expo will be cancelled at this point in time, but we will continue to monitor this situation closely and provide updates on our official social channels as we continue internal discussion.

Meanwhile, several other video game companies have recently transitioned to a work-from-home setup as a precaution against the pandemic including Rockstar Games, Jagex, ZeniMax Online Studios, and Klang Games. “That does absolutely not mean production has come to a halt,” says the Seed developer. “By cleverly only employing giant nerds, dorks and geniuses, we could transition into home office life pretty smoothly.”

Apologies to all the folks I'll be in meetings with while working from home. My dogs are a bit loud... especially when playing or when someone delivers something to the house.

— Rich Lambert (@SlashLurk) March 16, 2020