Minecraft Festival Postponed due to COVID-19

In the latest of COVID-19-related closings, Minecraft Festival, a giant convention for Minecraft Earth players (and Minecraft fans, of course), is being postponed today. It is less because the risk of getting festival-goers sick (it’s still months away), and more because the current spread of the disease is making organizing the thing damn near impossible.

From the Minecraft blog:

In recent weeks, the COVID-19 outbreak has led many organizers to cancel or postpone gatherings and events across the world, as a preventive measure to ensure the health and safety of their guests. The situation around Minecraft Festival, however, is a little different. September is still many months away, and we are not making any predictions about how long it will take to put the outbreak behind us. This decision is rather a result of the extensive preparations required to organize a mammoth event like this.

Our partners, producers, and exhibitors are based in all corners of the world, and right now we can’t meet and collaborate in the way we need to. Without knowing exactly when we can resume planning, we have decided to postpone. That way, we can make sure that next year’s event will be the amazing one that our community expects and deserves.

The good news is that Minecraft Live, the streaming show that was going to happen adjacent to the Minecraft festival, is still happening, so fans can even get a healthy dose of Minecraft news, announcements, and “behind the scenes exclusives.”

Additionally, they closed this down before they even started selling tickets, so nobody has to worry about getting a refund for a flight or other travel-related expenses.

This, on top of the postponing of GDCQ and other industry events, puts a lot of additional pressure on E3, which is looking like an increasingly audacious prospect as the disease continues to spread and kill people at an exponential rate.