Tokyo Game Show 2020’s physical event canceled, moved online

Another major gaming event is moving online, as the organizers of Tokyo Game Show announced that this year’s physical event will be cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns.

Tokyo Game Show 2020 was scheduled to take place from September 24th to September 27th at Makuhari Messe, its traditional event space. The press release states that more information about the online event will be added to the website when it’s available, as well as detailed in a forthcoming press release near the end of the month.

TGS is only the latest in a long string of events to be canceled due to concerns surrounding the novel coronavirus. Most recently, Paris Games Week, which was set to take place in the end of October, was officially canceled earlier this week. These two shows join E3, Gamescom, and the Taipei Game Show, which were all canceled several weeks ago.

Fortunately, the existence of the internet means the incessant marketing and PR hype train will never run out of track. Xbox has already started revealing games for the Xbox Series X with its first Xbox 20/20 online event. Video game face Geoff Keighley announced his still somewhat ambiguous Summer Games Fest program, for which Gamescom’s Opening Night Live event will serve as a “season finale.” Publishers themselves are getting in on the action, too, with EA hosting EA Play Live next month and Ubisoft having given a vague promise about hosting its own E3 2020 replacement event.