Those looking forward to the next ASEAN Gaming Summit will have to wait a while longer. The fourth edition has been postponed out to the second quarter of 2021, Asia Gaming Brief has announced.
Originally, this conference was due to take place in March, 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic quickly put an end to that schedule. First postponed to July, 2020, and then September, 2020, with host city Manila now under a modified Enhanced Community Quarantine, that date seemed unlikely as well.
Citing continued uncertainty and travel restrictions, managing director Luis Pereira said they had no choice but to push the event back to next year. “While it was a difficult decision to postpone our 4th edition past the 2020 calendar year, we felt it was the right call to make to ensure our delegates’ safety, and to give enough time for the industry to regain its balance,” said Pereira.
“This will also prompt us to concentrate on delivering a truly outstanding event in 2021. We’ll be going for a hybrid approach – a live, physical conference for those local to Asia, with unique and exclusive content and activities specially catered to a digital audience. In the meantime, Asia Gaming Brief remains committed to improving and expanding its full range of services to the Asia gaming industry,” Pereira continued.
No exact date has been given for the conference, which seems wise considering nobody really knows when travel restrictions will begin to lift for the Philippines. The country continues to see a high rise in infections, averaging between 3,000 and 4,000 new cases per day for the last week. Travel is current restricted to Filipinos and those with family in the Philippines.
The same problems have plagued conferences all over the world, leading to a healthy slate of digital conferences. Those interested in what’s happening in Asia have had great content coming from SiGMA-ICE Asia, for example, while other event outfits like SBC have shown the latest trends from all over the world.
