Gamescom 2020 is “Continuing as Planned,” Coronavirus Threat Being Evaluated

Ryan Meitzler March 16, 2020 10:54 AM EST

While the coronavirus is looming large across the world, Gamescom 2020 is moving ahead on schedule, but plans may change later on.

With the current situation around the growing concerns of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), large parts of the world and industries across the globe have been left with uncertainty. This especially has been felt in the games industry, as major events such as GDC (which was to take place this week in San Francisco) and E3 have been either cancelled or postponed, leading to more questions about what events further on in the year might be next, including Gamescom.

An update from the official Gamescom Twitter account provided a statement on the current situation regarding the event, given the developing situation around the coronavirus and the cancellation of other major events and conventions around the world. You can find the full statement below:

A short update on the current situation:

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/nZH3qMMVvj — gamescom (@gamescom) March 16, 2020

According to the event organizers, at the moment Gamescom 2020 is “continuing as planned,” as current limitations from the city of Cologne, Germany are banning major events and gatherings with more than 1,000 attendees through April 10, 2020. Currently, Gamescom 2020 is planned to take place from August 25-29, 2020, which doesn’t pose an immediate complication for the event at this time.

However, the statement clarified that while the event is moving forward at the moment, the Gamescom organization team will “follow the recommendations of the responsible authorities regarding major events,” and in case any further developments arise based on the situation. If in the event that Gamescom 2020 is either cancelled or postponed, the statement explained that refunds will be made available for those that were scheduled to attend this year’s event.

With the coronavirus leaving so much uncertainty in its wake and governments around the world calling for the restrictions of travel and massive gatherings of people to prevent further spreading the virus, it is an unfortunate but inevitable consequence that major events like these would be held off for the time being. Gamescom in particular is a tricky situation, given that it is the largest gaming-related event in the world, with last year’s show bringing in over 373,000 people. While at the moment the event is proceeding as planned, it all remains unclear just yet how the impacts of the coronavirus may be felt in the coming months and, potentially, closer to Gamescom’s scheduled dates in August.