PAX East is due to kick off at 10 AM EST on February 27 and was looking to be a good event for Sony, or at least their fans. Upcoming titles, such as The Last of Us Part II, Nioh 2, and Doom Eternal, were all to be playable at the Sony booth.
Unfortunately, for fans who were looking forward to a hands-on sneak peek, there will no longer be a Sony booth at the show as the Japanese giants have pulled out of the event completely.
This isn’t another E3 snub, far from it. This time Sony has decided to withdraw due to the ongoing global concerns over Coronavirus.
The virus, also known as COVID-19, has already caused havoc in the gaming world with delays of specific titles as well as the cancelation of an Overwatch League game over in China.
Obviously, the virus is causing bigger issues to people’s health, which is an important fact here. Games can wait, and I can understand why Sony has decided to withdraw from PAX for these reasons.
In an update to a recent PlayStation.com blog Sony had this to say regarding their decision:
“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.”
And there we have it. Let us know in the comments if you are due to go to PAX East later in the month. It’s a shame that fans won’t get to try out certain titles they are excited by, but some things are just more important.