In these dark times, there’s nothing strange in reading an event cancellation story. One of the most significant Asian gaming events, the Taipei Game Show, is being canceled and won’t be hosted for 2020. At first, the game show was postponed for a later date (June 25), while now it is entirely canceled.
The official statement arrived on the official website of the Taipei Game Show, claiming that the novel Covid-19 virus was the cause of the cancellation act. Calling off an event of this caliber may hurt the developers, but also the fans primarily residing in that particular area.
The officials have stated the following:
Taipei Game Show 2020 was originally rescheduled on June 25 – 28. However, as the escalation of the novel coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) continues, also comply with the latest rules by Taiwan CDC of suspending all the indoor events with 100 attendees as evaluative criteria. After consulting with most of the exhibitors regarding the health and safety, the organizing committee is officially calling off Taipei Game Show 2020 (B2C Zone, B2B Zone) and Asia Pacific Game Summit. Also, the team will be arranging full refunds and retention on all exhibitors paid fees and deposits.
World Health Organization (WHO) characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic on March 11 and by following the regulation of Taiwan CDC such as the entry restriction for foreigners to Taiwan and the mass gathering guidelines. The organizing committee indicated that Taipei Game Show may cause the negligence of precaution since it has been gathering 300K visits every year, furthermore, total of 235 confirmed cases have been occurred so far in Taiwan. Some of the exhibitors, the trade visitors, the game developers, and guests cannot enter Taiwan because of the border control. The priority now is to comply with the guidelines and countermeasures announced by the government authorities and prevent the epidemic from further spreads. Therefore, we decide to call off Taipei Game Show 2020.
Meanwhile, the organizing committee is further planning an “Online Business Matching Event” and “Taipei Game Show LIVE!” to showcase the latest announcements and news. Updates will be shared on tgs.tca.org.tw
Hopefully, these struggles won’t continue in the future, resolving it with a purification protocol. However, according to media outlets and WHO, vaccines are still far away from production due to the complexity of the virus, which may lead to an extended self-isolation period. We’ve become victims of our own sanity, which does not grant a comfortable feeling, not at all.
