Paris Games Week Canceled Because of COVID-19

…And if you thought the east was the only part of the world where things were still being canceled, you were sadly mistaken. Because at the same time as the Tokyo Game Show announced it wouldn’t be running its September show due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the large but not quite as well-known event, the Paris Games Week event, announced that it was canceling its October event for the very same reasons.

From the Paris Games Week website:

It is with great emotion that we have made the difficult decision to cancel Paris Games Week, initially scheduled from 23rd to 27th October and which would have marked our 10th anniversary.

The current context and the necessary anticipation of both the technical and logistical complexities of an event such as Paris Games Week have led us to cancel this edition.

This year should have been special, with a line-up full of new releases, and an anniversary edition which we were thrilled to celebrate with you.

We are going to work with all the industry players to enable us all to live our passion. We are already preparing next year’s edition and are looking forward to seeing you again.

Paris Game Week might not be on the tip of most gamer’s tongues, but last year the event drew in over 317,000 people over the five-day event, more than enough to raise concerns. However unlike other events that have canceled this year, it seems the Paris Games Week has no plans to host a digital counterpart of their 2020 event. Rather, as you can see, it appears they’re just calling it a loss and getting ready for next year’s event.

It’s never terribly surprising to hear this news these days, but it does get pretty sad when you remember how many people’s plans and jobs hinged on these events. It’s not the worst part of the pandemic by far, but it sure is bad…