Bethesda cancels QuakeCon 2020 over coronavirus outbreak

For the first time in 25 years, QuakeCon 2020 has officially been cancelled.

Today Bethesda announced QuakeCon 2020 has been cancelled due to significant coronavirus disruption. Although the event would've been several months away in August, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has completely interrupted the critical planning phases for the event. Even if the coronavirus was under control by August 2020, Bethesda says it wouldn't be able to properly prepare a quality show with the industry's current state of disarray.

"In recent weeks we have spent a lot of time discussing how we might still move forward with QuakeCon this year, particularly given it's the 25th year of the event.

"However, with all of the logistical challenges and uncertainties we currently face due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made the difficult decision to cancel this year's QuakeCon. The health and safety of our employees, volunteers, vendors, sponsors, and players will always be our top priority, and in these times it felt wrong to be talking about a gathering when gathering is the last thing any of us should be doing right now," Bethesda wrote on Twitter.

"While we don't know what the state of the pandemic will be this August, we do know it will not be possible to complete the work and planning with partners, vendors, volunteers and others that is require to make QuakeCon a success."

This was the right move for sure. QuakeCon houses the world's biggest LAN party and encourages gamers to BYOC (bring your own computer) to the event. Needless to say, a LAN party is the perfect hotbed for contagion to thrive.

We should expect some sort of digital QuakeCon showcase to happen but the huge in-person event with its sprawling Doom statues, amazing custom PC builds, and in-person meet-ups with id and Bethesda creatives won't be possible in 2020.