On February 14, the ASEAN Gaming Summit announced in a statement that the 2020 event, originally scheduled for March 17-20, would be postponed until late July. This decision was made out of an abundance of caution towards the coronavirus.
The event has been held annually in March and has attracted thousands of delegates from across Asia in both land-based and online sectors.
However, the ongoing concern about the coronavirus made it impossible to hold the summit as scheduled. In the statement, it was explained that “Asia Gaming Brief hopes this decision will help to protect our community by helping to curb the spread of the coronavirus, as well as to give our industry sufficient time to focus on recovery.”
The press release set the new date for the conference from July 28-30. The same venue will still be used, the Shangri La At-The-Fort, Manila. No changes have been made to the speakers program, so hopefully the same lineup can make the new dates.
Currently, there has been three confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the Philippines. The government has focused on tracking down every person who’s come in contact with a confirmed case and quaranteeing them, with the first two already having wrapped up. The third still has tracing ongoing.
In China, the number of reported cases has reached nearly 50,000 as of this date. Many restrictions have been imposed upon residents of China traveling to nations throughout the region, which would have likely meant that participants from the country would have been barred from attending the ASEAN Gaming Summit out of concern for the health of participants. It is hoped that by postponing the date this will not become an issue.
Those who have questions or are seeking updates are encouraged to visit the aseangaming.com website. Organizers will continually provide the latest updates and information as to changes to the current schedule. They will also be providing updates on the status of the virus, which hopefully will continue to be kept under control, not putting the new dates, or the public’s health, in jeopardy.
