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PAX West 2020 canceled, goes digital with PAX Online this Fall

The event forego an in-person experience in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Donovan Erskine

June 16, 2020 11:50 AM

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This year has felt like a crescendo of bad news after bad news. So much so that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic already feels like old news to some. The issue is, this crisis is still very much real and prevalent. COVID-19 has already led to the cancellation of a number of events this year both in and out of the video game industry. PAX West was the latest to announce that they’d be cancelling their event and pivoting to an online format.

PAX Online will fill the void left by the cancellation of PAX West this fall. With the coronavirus really ramping up back in march, most of 2020’s major events have either been cancelled or rescheduled. However, some of the events slated for later in the year held on, clinging to hope that things would be back to normal in time to host these massive public gatherings. Unfortunately, all signs are pointing to no, causing events like Star Wars Celebration and PAX West to finally pull the plug. 

In April, we were still hoping to bring you PAX West this year. But health and safety are paramount, and as we worked on solutions, it became clear that if we really wanted to welcome everybody home, we'd have to take PAX Online. Read the full post here: https://t.co/tMoLP5ndfA pic.twitter.com/7VVJYzn4aa

— PAX (@pax) June 16, 2020

PAX made the official announcement about PAX West being cancelled, and PAX Online rising from its ashes via their official Twitter account. A much longer statement, including full details on PAX Online can be found on the PAX website. Designed by the teams behind PAX West and PAX Australia in collaboration with EGX, PAX Online looks to be an ambitious digital event for fans.

PAX Online will take place over the span of nine days, far surpassing the length for your typical in person PAX event. The action kicks off on September 12, and will conclude on September 20. Badges will be free, as anyone with internet access will be able to view and interact with the event. PAX states that there will still be panels, as well as downloadable video game demos.

Going digital in place of large gatherings has been the trend around the industry this year. We here at Shacknews recently held E4 to replace E3, and are still very much in the thick of the Summer of Doing our Jobs.  It’ll be fascinating to see how PAX Online pans out, and we’ll have the latest news on it right here.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_