As COVID-19, or "coronavirus" concerns spreads across China, Sony is taking health safety to heart, even in the United States. Originally scheduled for a booth at this year's PAX East event in Boston, Massachusetts, PlayStation has cancelled their appearance at the show, citing that they will no longer be attending due to coronavirus concerns. This means that the first public hands-on demo of The Last of Us II will no longer be available, nor will any of their other planned demos, such as Nioh 2, Iron Man VR, and other titles. For the companies still attending the event, PAX East will begin on February 27th.

UPDATE: Today, Sony Interactive Entertainment made the decision to cancel its participation at PAX East in Boston this year due to increasing concerns related to COVID-19 (also known as “novel coronavirus”). We felt this was the safest option as the situation is changing daily. We are disappointed to cancel our participation in this event, but the health and safety of our global workforce is our highest concern.

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[IncredulousP]

I'm nearish Boston, my roommate mentioned a couple cases of the virus but otherwise I haven't even thought about it here. Not sure if good precaution or sensationalized paranoia.

 

[Foxi4]

Something tells me they just have nothing good to show, or or it's a convenient excuse to skip the convention and show things off at their own event instead. They've been bailing conventions left and right in favour of PlayStation Experience, they're already not attending E3, which is understandable considering the event is dying anyway. I think the upper management has decided that it's cheaper and more effective to do these things online, as Nintendo did.

 

[Zense]

This smells like an excuse for something else. I'll leave it to the rest to speculate for what, but lemme just mention that they're already skipping E3.

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Wait, that's not a meme? Is real!?

 

[Uiaad]

Something tells me they just have nothing good to show, or or it's a convenient excuse to skip the convention and show things off at their own event instead. They've been bailing conventions left and right in favour of PlayStation Experience, they're already not attending E3, which is understandable considering the event is dying anyway. I think the upper management has decided that it's cheaper and more effective to do these things online, as Nintendo did.

Gotta completely agree with you, it sounds like they they didn't really want to go and this was the best excuse they could come up with to get out of it. You gotta think they at the moment they are gearing up for the launch of the PS5 and they really have to focus their efforts on getting everything right, from marketing to getting the hardware finalised and in production. Cons like this can be a big distraction even for big corporations, it takes away a lot of time, money and other resources which could be used better in other places

 

[SuperDan]

Ah well no biggie to me .. 100 days until last of us 2.... And even if it gets delayed That's fine too .. Its simply going to be worth the wait ...

 

[Deleted member 506316]

So multiple viruses and affecting The Last of Us, huh?

 

[pustal]

Less time investing in a demo => more time to invest in the game.

 

[Stealphie]

So multiple viruses and affecting The Last of Us, huh?

The "Last of Us" will be gone because of the coronavirus

 

[weatMod]

Ah well no biggie to me .. 100 days until last of us 2.... And even if it gets delayed That's fine too .. Its simply going to be worth the wait ...

No need to wait 100 days
Just wait 30 and you can play it IRL

 

[Lazyboss]

It's just a new virus, people should stop overacting.

 

[HarveyHouston]

It's not as serious as Sony is taking it.

 

[urbanman2004]

Better to be safe than sorry I guess

 

[DANTENDO]

Respect to sony re being concerned for ther staff - they could of quite easily said if don't turn up yr sacked - I couldn't giv a cows arse re the virus as if you unfortunately get it you just hav to deal with it and hope you don't suffer - you got to carry on yr lives as normal as you can

 

[Lazyboss]

Respect to sony re being concerned for ther staff - they could of quite easily said if don't turn up yr sacked - I couldn't giv a cows arse re the virus as if you unfortunately get it you just hav to deal with it and hope you don't suffer - you got to carry on yr lives as normal as you can

Imagine resident evil 3 will be canceled or delayed because of that.

 

[DANTENDO]

Imagine resident evil 3 will be canceled or delayed because of that.

Shit let me think about tht

 

[SuperDan]

No need to wait 100 days
Just wait 30 and you can play it IRL

Whats IRL ? ,,, to be fair im more into PC Gaming ... ive not turned on my Ps4 pro in months ..... but im so looking forward to the ruddy game

 

[weatMod]

Whats IRL ? ,,, to be fair im more into PC Gaming ... ive not turned on my Ps4 pro in months ..... but im so looking forward to the ruddy game

In real life

 

[leon315]

It's just a new virus, people should stop overacting.

yep, this is exactly the same reaction back 100years ago people reacted to Flu.at time Flu was equally death sentence if they got one.