2020 was set to be a big year for id Software and Bethesda’s annual QuakeCon event. Not only is the video game industry itself in the midst of a major shift with next-gen platforms on the horizon, but QuakeCon itself was set to celebrate its own 25th anniversary. Unfortunately, just like many other gaming conventions have gone in the past few weeks, QuakeCon has now officially been canceled for this summer due to, you guessed it, the coronavirus pandemic.
Bethesda and id Software made the news official today over on the QuakeCon Twitter account where the reasons for why the cancellation of the annual Texas-based convention were given. “In recent weeks we have spent a lot of time discussing how we might still move forward with QuakeCon this year, particularly given that it’s the 25th year of the event,” Bethesda and id Software said in a joint statement. “However, with all the logistical challenges and uncertainties we currently face due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made the difficult decision to cancel this year’s QuakeCon.”
An update on QuakeCon 2020: pic.twitter.com/1FYUauI7PY
— QuakeCon (@QuakeCon) March 31, 2020
This message went on to acknowledge that even though the COVID-19 pandemic may start to clear up come August, which is when QuakeCon would’ve been held, Bethesda still wouldn’t have had ample time to prepare for the event with its partners around the world. If you’ve somehow never given it a thought before, conventions like QuakeCon take a long time to plan for and are often in the early stages of organization all the way up to 8-10 months in advance. So while this whole pandemic has hopefully cleared up in the United States come August, it makes sense why this the 25th edition of QuakeCon won’t be held this year.
Again, this news obviously isn’t a major shock whatsoever, but it continues to be yet another bummer in a long string of effects that the novel coronavirus has had on events around the world this year. Looking ahead, Gamescom 2020 in Germany is the next major gaming convention on the calendar that could potentially be canceled, although the show is still said to be continuing on as planned as of this writing.
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