The global games industry has been hit by a string of event cancellations due to coronavirus outbreaks, and the impact is being felt here in Northern Ireland.
Industries around the world are currently dealing with the fallout of the global coronavirus pandemic or bracing for the disruption that could hit in the coming weeks. Many major firms are putting remote working plans in place in case they need to voluntarily quarantine their staff, and are re-evaluating travel plans in light of the risk.
The biggest hits have been to scheduled events, with major tech trade shows such as Mobile World Congress being cancelled at a considerable cost in lost revenue. The global game development industry has been hit this week by the cancellation of many upcoming trade shows and conferences, among them the massive Game Developer's Conference (GDC) in San Francisco.
GDC is one of the largest conferences of the year and an important opportunity for developers to meet publishers, announce their upcoming projects, and get some press coverage of their games. In addition to massive displays by major tech firms in the gaming space such as Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft, the conference hosts thousands of smaller independent developers. It also acts as a major educational opportunity, with several days of talks, presentations, awards, and events.
Even Northern Ireland's game development industry has been hit by the cancellation. A contingent from Northern Ireland was planning to attend GDC this year to represent the region as part of a Northern Ireland Screen trade mission, which has now been cancelled. Companies such as Italic Pig, the local development studio that last year signed the region's first ever seven-figure game development deal, made a big impact last year at the event.
I know first hand how the disruption has affected small independent studios as my own game development studio, Brain and Nerd, was all set to attend GDC this year as part of the NI Screen trade mission. While conference passes are being refunded by the organiser, most people's flights and hotels are non-refundable and not covered by travel insurance.
NI Screen is helping local developers who were part of the trade mission with funding to cover some of the non-refundable expenses. Wings Interactive, a fund for marginalized developers, has also started the GDC Relief Fund to help independent developers around the world who were left short as a result of the cancellation, many of whom are out thousands of pounds or had won competitive educational scholarships to attend the event.
Local firms such as ours that were planning to attend had also booked dozens of meetings with US-based publishers to pitch for project funding, which are now cancelled or being rescheduled as remote meetings. With a new case of the virus being confirmed in Belfast yesterday, local companies are also making preparations to switch to remote working full-time if the outbreak spreads.
Source: PC Gamer, GDC Relief Fund, Header image (c) GDC
