PlayStation cancels planned PAX East appearance due to increasing concerns related to Coronavirus [See Staff Post]

[Dr. Mario]

Mods are right here, not sure what people are on about. It doesn't say anywhere that Corona virus is a matter of belief. The matter of belief is whether somebody should be considerably more careful than WHO guidelines.
Saying that this will end up justifying antivaxxer nonsense is about as hyperbolic as saying that the other way around will justify people taking a wide berth whenever they see an Asian in the street. Pure sliding scale fallacy.

Of course in the end it's just videogames, so nobody should be worked up about this.

 

[McDomination]

Jesus. Why post that?

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I dunno... Maybe because an airborne virus that has already killed thousands, infected hundreds of thousands, and should be a concern in some capacity for any human being traveling around the planet, is not an opinion but an actual fact?

 

[Jraphics Horse]

The staff post is bad because it essentially gives validation to the insanely stupid conspiracy theories laid out in some of the post in the first few pages. It's not a "belief" to think that people deserve to be mocked because they chose to prioritize health over work, it's just being an asshole.

That being said I do think it's a bit overreacting to cancel their entire presence instead of like maybe limiting the amount of staff/space you'll hold there. Tons of other publishers with a global workforce will be present and dont consider that theres a real risk of infection with how they've prepared their plans. But like, there's never anything wrong with being overly safe. It's not like they chose it out of comfort, they probably lost a lot of money with this decision.

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It's about risk mitigation at the end of the day and other businesses will have to decide for themselves, Sony might be the first but it doesn't mean they are the only ones. Will it seem like an overreaction if everyone cancels or the event is cancelled? I don't think so really.

 

[entrydenied]

Look, I get the concern I really do.

But this is just becoming too ironic and Sony is starting to become a meme. I honestly think there is more internal turmoil internally than what we are aware of; especially with the PS5.

I respect their decision on this but I doubt them pulling out in its entirety is because of the covid 19, but it is the easiest way to pull out from the event with the least amount of PR damage.

Why dont they go all digital for the event ? Provisions can be made and adapted and there is no reason they cant "attend" via this method.

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We honestly don't need crap like this in this thread. It has nothing to do with the topic.

 

[Raijinto]

Yeah I've read that staff post a few times now and I don't get the negativity towards it. It reads perfectly fine and I hope we all agree that no one should be attacked or harassed ITT for disagreeing on Sony's stance here. I am confused.

 

[BlastProcessing]

This is not what the staff post is saying at all. The staff post did not say that viruses are a belief.

Holy fuck, people.

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Blaming the recipients for a communication breakdown is rarely helpful, even in situations where you feel that your statement was clear. Neither is repeating yourself.

 

[eso76]

I think everyone concerned about their own and everyone else's safety can postpone or avoid travelling for a couple months if not strictly necessary.
While the virus itself is not *that* scary, the rate at which it can spread to 50 people on a plane, who will go on and come across another 100 persons in a few hours can become a huge problem very quickly.
We should be thankful to people who are doing what they can to prevent the virus from spreading.

Besides, they can demo their products on twitch and it would be absolutely the same for 99,9999999% of the population.

I am not ruling out a delay is the real reason though.

 

[Weebos]

I'm not syre why a staff post amounting to "Don't be a dick" is getting such a bad reception.

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I'm with you here, if anything related to this thread is an overreaction, it's the response to the staff post lol.

 

[Drencrom]

Now that I started think about this, it wouldn't be too unreasonable to think that the corona virus is just some conspiracy plot for companies like Sony to be able to bail out of meet-ups at random gaming conventions. It makes sense when you think about it 🤔

 

[____]

Yeah I was wondering that as well. Why did Sony attend CES, Dice and planning to attend GDC as of right now. But skipping PAX. Just seems random. Doesn't make sense if it was a company wide mandate.

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Isn't it becoming increasingly more reported as time goes on?

 

[Nabs]

PAX is like the wild west for the flu and colds. I can only imagine what would happen if someone caught the virus while traveling there.

 

[Phendrift]

I don't see the issue with thinking it's an overreaction when Sony is literally the only company to cancel their appearance so far?

Like Nintendo and the others probably think it is too lol

 

[sredgrin]

What bad science? We're dealing with a global outbreak with the virus that hasn't been fully understood yet. Researches are still being experimenting but people are already dying. Any precaution regarding this crisis is fully justified.

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Probably referring to things like how some Chinese restaurants in the US are taking a huge hit because people think they'll catch it from eating Orange Chicken like detailed in this thread: https://www.resetera.com/threads/sa...s-plummet-following-coronavirus-panic.170790/

Acting like there's no bad science or fear mongering (later in the thread you'll see a Japanese restaurant in France vandalized with the name of the virus) about this topic is frankly a bit silly.

 

[Syriel]

"People are free to believe that vaccines don't work and are bad, just like people are free to believe that vaccines do work!"

Fucking terrible, my god. There's a global pandemic and Sony exercises reasonable caution, and people piss their pants over some fucking video games, when Sony themselves are the ones losing the most from this.

The entitlement of people is off the fucking charts. Seeing responses in threads like this, it's no fucking wonder someone like Donald John Trump is the fucking President of the United States. Of course he is! Technology is destroying our brains and ability to think rationally, responses in this thread is all you need to see.

There are plenty of great, intelligent posters in this thread and on this forum, it's a big reason I love this place. But there's also a ton of horrible, dangerous people present too it seems...

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The reasoning used to pull out of PAX East is the same reasoning people are using to avoid Chinatowns and Chinese restaurants.

Quantifiable data showing actual risk is not present in either case.

 

[coconut gun]

I guess it bears repeating:

A Global Health Emergency doesn't mean what you think it means. It doesn't mean that there is now a virus that will destroy the world. There has been a Global Health Emergency going on since 2018 . Were you afraid to leave the house? Did you want companies to bow out of conventions?

The official word is that this is a Global Health Emergency. The official word is ALSO that the dangers for the American Public are "low". This doesn't contradict each other. And this is why some people think this is an overreaction. Not the Global Health Emergency is the overreaction. People's reaction to the Global Health Emergency is the overreation, because the media absolutely failed at explaining what that actually means (and doesn't mean).

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people should really read over this post instead of quote dunking on IWMTB's awful attempts at saying something similar

 

[Daniel Westlake]

I guess it bears repeating:

A Global Health Emergency doesn't mean what you think it means. It doesn't mean that there is now a virus that will destroy the world. There has been a Global Health Emergency going on since 2018 . Were you afraid to leave the house? Did you want companies to bow out of conventions?

The official word is that this is a Global Health Emergency. The official word is ALSO that the dangers for the American Public are "low". This doesn't contradict each other. And this is why some people think this is an overreaction. Not the Global Health Emergency is the overreaction. People's reaction to the Global Health Emergency is the overreation, because the media absolutely failed at explaining what that actually means (and doesn't mean).

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Some of y'all are just dense, it's not the American public risk Sony is worried about it's the possible exposure risk of mobilizing what would be induvial from multiple different countries for non-essential travel when the suggestion is to limit that if possible.

 

[ClickyCal']

Holy shit WTF..... In what reality have i come into? I know you like to joke but you really shouldn't do that in a serious thread........Stop playing

The fuck is going on in this thread...!

lol What????

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Someone posted this thread about when they were driving drunk, and everyone dogged on op, and then a mod said that he wasn't above the level and to not dog him....even though he said in the post was drunk enough he didn't even remember going home.

 

[Tempy]

Yeah I was wondering that as well. Why did Sony attend CES, Dice and planning to attend GDC as of right now. But skipping PAX. Just seems random. Doesn't make sense if it was a company wide mandate.

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CES 2020 was in very early January though. CoVid-19 was reported on Dec 31.

And they did pull out of MWC in Barcelona earlier this month.

 

[Deleted member 58846]

I don't see the issue with thinking it's an overreaction when Sony is literally the only company to do it so far?

Like Nintendo and the others probably think it is too lol

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It's unlikely Nintendo thinks that, when their whole production line and inventory has seen delays because of the coronavirus.

 

[Aaronrules380]

I guess it bears repeating:

A Global Health Emergency doesn't mean what you think it means. It doesn't mean that there is now a virus that will destroy the world. There has been a Global Health Emergency going on since 2018 . Were you afraid to leave the house? Did you want companies to bow out of conventions?

The official word is that this is a Global Health Emergency. The official word is ALSO that the dangers for the American Public are "low". This doesn't contradict each other. And this is why some people think this is an overreaction.

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Yeah. It's definitely something worth taking precautions about, but honestly most of the reason it's getting the attention it is is because there's enough we don't know about it that there might be a chance it's way more of an issue than what the current data suggests and you don't want to be careless with human lives. That said While it's possible new data will show otherwise, I think most evidence right now points to it being way less dangerous than most flu strains floating around

 

[Charamiwa]

I fail to see what's wrong with that mod post, unless it's been edited since. What other companies are pulling out of Pax besides Sony? As long as it's not an absolute necessity and not every companies are doing the same, that choice becomes obviously up for discussion.

 

[Javier23]

My wife works at LAX, coming into contact with hundreds of travelers every day, and she comes home every day to my son. People traveling now are being screened. I don't care whether Sony attends or not, but the cancellation is an overreaction on their part.

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Like you said, your wife already works at LAX. It's business as usual for her. But Sony doesn't have the immediate necessity to travel to PAX. These decisions are weighed in terms of what corporate estimates the cost-benefit is at. Like I've sat down these days in meetings held to make this exact type of decisions. There's no easy way to estimate a very high risk, very low probability event of this kind, but safe to say you can easily sit out a marketing event to avoid potential travel disruptions, having key executives quarantined, bringing sth bad back to the office, God knows what. And most importantly, prevent idiots from panicking. Overabundance of caution is definitely an apt description. But unlike your wife, they can stick to their regular schedule without the need to attend.

In other words, given the information we have, it simply cannot be judged as an overreaction, specially when there are far more variables at play than most people are considering here. It all goes way beyond the mere odds of someone catching this thing.

 

[Betty]

How would hyping it up for 2020, only to delay it a couple of months later be any good? Either way, the reveal is happening this year and hopefully soon.

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Well it wouldn't be good, that's what I mean, maybe they're aware they won't meet production quotas and don't want to start the hype cycle proper until they are sure they can meet the demand.

 

[BigHatPaul]

Probably referring to things like how some Chinese restaurants in the US are taking a huge hit because people think they'll catch it from eating Orange Chicken like detailed in this thread: https://www.resetera.com/threads/sa...s-plummet-following-coronavirus-panic.170790/

Acting like there's no bad science or fear mongering (later in the thread you'll see a Japanese restaurant in France vandalized with the name of the virus) about this topic is frankly a bit silly.

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That's racism. But what Sony is doing isn't racist. It's a precaution. Why should we demonize them for that?

 

[Deleted member 58846]

Now that I started pondering about this, it wouldn't be too unreasonable that the corona virus is just some conspiracy plot for companies like Sony to be able to bail meet-ups at random gaming conventions. It makes sense when you think about it 🤔

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It's just a way for companies like Apple to make excuses for their lower earnings. Which they wouldn't have if they were still making iPhones that didn't cost $1000.

 

[BlastProcessing]

The reasoning used to pull out of PAX East is the same reasoning people are using to avoid Chinatowns and Chinese restaurants.

Quantifiable data showing actual risk is not present in either case.

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That is simply not true. A multinational corporation making a call about the international travel of dozens of employees is not analogous to individuals avoiding a neighborhood.

 

[tzare]

Seems the right desicion, MWC was also cancelled yet Covid19 isn't in Spain yet. It is about being cautious, because the only cases found (and solved) in Spain were two foreigners coming from conferences held in other countries.

 

[Daniel Westlake]

Probably referring to things like how some Chinese restaurants in the US are taking a huge hit because people think they'll catch it from eating Orange Chicken like detailed in this thread: https://www.resetera.com/threads/sa...s-plummet-following-coronavirus-panic.170790/

Acting like there's no bad science or fear mongering (later in the thread you'll see a Japanese restaurant in France vandalized with the name of the virus) about this topic is frankly a bit silly.

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That is not this, so I really don't see the point in bring it up in this context.

 

[Odeko]

It's unlikely Nintendo thinks that, when their whole production line and inventory has seen delays because of the coronavirus.

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Nintendo's production line is in Central China. Pax East is not.

 

[Ragnarok Flames]

Yeah I've read that staff post a few times now and I don't get the negativity towards it. It reads perfectly fine and I hope we all agree that no one should be attacked or harassed ITT for disagreeing on Sony's stance here. I am confused.

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Tribalism around a giant corporation (which doesnt care about you only your money) is what drives a lot of hate posts.

also Sony is hella over-reacting. and likely using things like this to generate press for themselves.

 

[Le Dude]

But is it our place to judge, harshly in some cases, as necessary or unnecessary something that has no material impact on our lives? Sure, games are a valid hobby/something folks are really, really into, and have made differences in people's lives, but saying that they (Sony) deserve to be mocked and defending it for what is essentially putting safety first is just plain wrong.

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There's already been concern over fear-mongering and cases of xenophobia from the misinformation and overreaction to the virus. There's also been issues like panic buying of medical supplies like masks, leading to a shortage when the people that really need them are those in the hospital.

Ultimately the cancellation of their appearance doesn't matter much from a gaming perspective . . . That's nothing in the grand scheme of thing. From a medical perspective I do not think it's an appropriate response. There's absolutely nothing indicating that cancelling an appearance in an event in Boston is necessary. I've already had to personally deal with hospital staff where I work overreacting to cases of previous strains of coronavirus. The message that such a cancellation sends to the people of Boston is not really appropriate.

 

[ClickyCal']

I don't see the issue with thinking it's an overreaction when Sony is literally the only company to cancel their appearance so far?

Like Nintendo and the others probably think it is too lol

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Do we know for sure nintendo won't yet?

 

[Castamere]

They weren't gonna reveal the PS5 at pax lol. Some people in this thread. Lol

 

[Bufbaf]

I fail to see what's wrong with that mod post, unless it's been edited since. What other companies are pulling out of Pax besides Sony? As long as it's not an absolute necessity and not every companies are doing the same, that choice becomes obviously up for discussion.

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It's been edited, thankfully. Read a bit more questionable beforehand, easily misunderstandable.

 

[Phendrift]

It's unlikely Nintendo thinks that, when their whole production line and inventory has seen delays because of the coronavirus.

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Isn't their production line, like, in China though?

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Just close this thread, it's been going nowhere from the outset.

 

[mute]

This is just an excuse because they aren't ready to speak about the ps5. MightAs well Blame it on Corona!

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They weren't going to reveal PS5 at PAX, virus or not lol.

 

[Hieroph]

PAX is like the wild west for the flu and colds. I can only imagine what would happen if someone caught the virus while traveling there.

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Yeah some people are acting like conventions like this are immune to disease.

PAX Swine Flu Outbreak Soars to Nearly 100 Cases of 'H1Nerd1'

With sick gamers documenting their illnesses on Twitter, the organizers of last weekend’s Penny Arcade Expo are urging everyone who attended to take an apparent swine flu outbreak seriously. PAX organizers say they have confirmed nearly 100 cases of H1N1 virus infections, or swine flu, in the...

www.wired.com

 

[sredgrin]

That is not this, so I really don't see the point in bring it up in this context.

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Because the poster I replied to pretended like there was nothing going on regarding irrationality over the subject and said, literally, any precaution is justified. I didn't bring it up as a general post, but as a reply to someone.

 

[Knight613]

It's not about the PS5, but people are totally allowed to believe it's about the PS5 from the staff post.

 

[Stoopkid]

Cowards !

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Gamers never cease to surprise me.

 

[Raijinto]

Just close this thread, it's been going nowhere from the outset.

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No..? The thread is fine now that people aren't getting dogpilled. There's an obvious talking point here that will be lost for no good reason if the thread is closed.

 

[DealWithIt]

What if, and this is just a what if, some people might reasonably believe that media over exposure of diseases like H1N1 and Covid19 leads to general, irrational, nonscientific panic?

I don't really care about the Sony stuff, I just wanted to get that out there in support of Morrigan's point. Not everything needs to be all or nothing. The disease is a risk, precautions are necessary, but the stigmatizing panic-coverage the disease is generating is not.

 

[tolkir]

E3 is dead and mods are insensible. We can't get a break with Sony.

 

[sirap]

Some of y'all are just dense, it's not the American public risk Sony is worried about it's the possible exposure risk of mobilizing what would be individuals from multiple different countries for non-essential travel when the suggestion is to limit that if possible.

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.

Not that it's a surprise considering a large part of ERA have problems thinking globally.

 

[Le Dude]

The argument that Sony's bowing out of this event is irrational is backed up by the fact that no other companies are backing out of the same event and almost no one in the U.S is even concerning themselves with this virus right now.

Trying to argue that Sony is being reasonable is also arguing that everyone else attending conferences all over the U.S every single day is being unreasonable.

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Exactly. If this kind of response was appropriate you would see organizations like the CDC and WHO recommending the cancellation of all international events. Nothing of the sort has even remotely happened.

 

[Schlorgan]

People are allowed to believe this is an overreaction from Sony, just like people are allowed to believe it's a sensible precaution. Do not attack others just because they disagree with you about this.

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Excuse me?

 

[kevin1025]

I fail to see what's wrong with that mod post, unless it's been edited since. What other companies are pulling out of Pax besides Sony? As long as it's not an absolute necessity and not every companies are doing the same, that choice becomes obviously up for discussion.

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It's been edited.

Original post:

People are allowed to believe this is an overreaction from Sony, just like people are allowed to believe it's a good call. Attacking other members for not following your belief on the matter will not be tolerated and will be moderated accordingly]

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Edited version:

People are allowed to believe this is an overreaction from Sony, just like people are allowed to believe it's a sensible precaution. Do not attack others just because they disagree with you about this.

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[LuckyLocke]

The only things that's yikes in this thread is the staff post reactions. Holy shit.

 

[SpaceCrystal]

No..? The thread is fine now that people aren't getting dogpilled. There's an obvious talking point here that will be lost for no good reason if the thread is closed.

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Sorry, but this thread has been turned to shit.