Fears of coronavirus have claimed another event. The annual music, gaming, and film festival SXSW has been canceled (along with the educational conference, SXSW EDU) by the city of Austin, Texas. This will be the first time the show won’t go on since the first event in 1987.
The SXSW website had an update that revealed the news.
“We are devastated to share this news with you. ‘The show must go on’ is in our DNA, and this is the first time in 34 years that the March event will not take place. We are now working through the ramifications of this unprecedented situation,” read the post.
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The organizers are looking to reschedule and are trying to figure out how to do a digital event for those with tickets. SXSW is a place for creative people to advance their careers and knowing that, the post committed to move forward and leave on an optimistic note:
“We will continue to work hard to bring you the unique events you love. Though it’s true that our March 2020 event will no longer take place in the way that we intended, we continue to strive toward our purpose – helping creative people achieve their goals.”
While there are mainly other forms of media at the event, gaming also has a presence, too. Reggie Fils-Aimé, Riot Games Chief Diversity Officer Angela Roseboro, General Manager of Unreal Engine at Epic Games Marc Petit, Atari Co-Founder Nolan Bushnell, and more were all supposed to have panels as well as the Sonic Team.
