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PAX East Returns in 2021 - June 3-6, 2021 (East CANCELED - PAX Online eta July 15-18)
The announcement can be found here: https://east.paxsite.com/news/article/pax-2021-updates
What does everyone think? Aside from the obvious benefits (No snow! No winter coat check! Lawn on D activities! Seaport not freezing my fingers off!) there are some huge open questions, especially whether attendees and exhibitors feel safe.
On the one hand, there are some indications that June may be a time of low transmission rates that may allow for a safe re-opening:
On the other hand, this is a global pandemic that's affecting the entire world and the US has been dealing with it very, very poorly. Who knows what 2021 will bring, and while I'm optimistic there's a massive amount of uncertainty.
My assumption is that Boston and the MCCA gave Reed several backup dates they can drop back to, likely in July or August, and they'll be having discussions each month about whether they should push from June. I wouldn't be surprised if, as a result of vaccine hiccups and/or exhibitor wariness, we end up pushing to July. The other convention I'm aware of, FanEXPO Boston, is scheduled for August 6-8 in 2021.
Thoughts?
What does everyone think? Aside from the obvious benefits (No snow! No winter coat check! Lawn on D activities! Seaport not freezing my fingers off!) there are some huge open questions, especially whether attendees and exhibitors feel safe.
On the one hand, there are some indications that June may be a time of low transmission rates that may allow for a safe re-opening:
- The true number of infected people in the US may have already been closer to 52 million by the beginning of October, per a recent CDC report. While this is far lower than what is needed to reach meaningful immunity in the population, it could help drive down spread over time.
- A vaccine is in the process of rolling out, though how many people will have access to it (let alone take it) is an unknown at this time. It will also likely take weeks to fully train your immune system.
- Mandated usage of masks in indoor spaces has been shown to be highly effective at curbing spread.
- Other policy precautions could be taken (no attendee demos, wipe down all surfaces every XX minutes, no cash transactions, plexiglass dividers for vendors, etc.) that could mitigate risk.
- The BCEC has a massive space and airflow (plus any upgrades they may do to the ventilation system) could mitigate risk.
On the other hand, this is a global pandemic that's affecting the entire world and the US has been dealing with it very, very poorly. Who knows what 2021 will bring, and while I'm optimistic there's a massive amount of uncertainty.
My assumption is that Boston and the MCCA gave Reed several backup dates they can drop back to, likely in July or August, and they'll be having discussions each month about whether they should push from June. I wouldn't be surprised if, as a result of vaccine hiccups and/or exhibitor wariness, we end up pushing to July. The other convention I'm aware of, FanEXPO Boston, is scheduled for August 6-8 in 2021.
Thoughts?
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PAX East Attendee since 2011
Hopefully vaccinations hit a critical mass by then.
Better to cautiously plan a con and cancel it as opposed to having no con and whoops things are better by then.
If you haven't, I would keep your eyes on the pax east website, and the official pax twitter. That's generally where enforcer applications will be posted.
https://www.resetera.com/threads/e3-2021-as-live-event-cancelled-going-forward-as-digital-working-on-broadcast-options-at-la-live-lacc.385877/
What questions did it ask?
Convention centers can reopen the 22nd of March at a lower capacity so with a bit of prodding by April or May they'll be able to boost it to a good %. If it wasn't for the survey and that press release, I'd have called it but now it's possible.
LA/Cali in general has been very conservative on reopening, see Disneyland still being closed as a park but open for dining and shopping. I think it will definitely be more possible depending on the region.
PAX East Attendee since 2011
I've been to every East since inception, but I am ok with this becoming virtual for 2021. If it does, I don't think it's a Boston issue or a vaccine issue. I think it's the vendors. People weren't afraid of saying how "PAX wasn't the same without Sony" (ignoring that Sony has only attended four of the 11 years, but details). How un-PAX is it going to feel if 70-75% of the exhibitors say "Nah, we're good"? This is also ignoring the outlying fact that a lot of games in development now are not in working condition due to delays. So even if Nintendo or Microsoft shows up, what are they going to offer us without people feeling disappointed that they weren't smothered in AAA holiday demos (which, again, is not common).
I want this as much as the next person, but Boston can barely make up its mind right now how many restaurants it wants to open (source: living in New England). If PAX happens, it's going to require ALOT to go its way. And if it does, it'll feel like a shell of the real deal.
Personally, I'd cancel. Put all your resources into PAX East 2022 and just kick the door down with a hell of a show.
PAX East Attendee since 2011
I'm hopeful that they still have East in some form of reduced capacity. It seems fitting that the last event to take place is the first one to return.
That was pretty much my take as well. The thing was, at the time, you couldn't BUY a test. So sure, we knew "a few people" had it and that it was spreading at some indeterminate rate. But it was not "a few people", it was much more likely that it was a few 1000 people had it locally... just that NO ONE KNEW, because the only "test" was grandpa showing up at an ICU four weeks later.
It's done.
Next year!
https://east.paxsite.com/news/article/pax-east-21-update