PAX East has been a lot of fun this week. Caitlin Cooke and I interviewed Platinum's Hideki Kamiya yesterday after playing Enter the Gungeon: House of the Gundead, Disc Room, Shovel Knight: Pocket Dungeon, and a whole bunch of other new and promising games. That said, the show floor seemed a little less crowded than we were used to, and everyone we talked to seemed even more afraid of getting "conflu" than usual.
That might be because another virus was already on a lot of people's minds. Five mid-sized exhibitors told us yesterday that shipments of their new PAX East 2020 merch was either delayed or outright canceled before the show due to the impact of the coronavirus on their Chinese production partners. One exhibitor, who asked to remain anonymous for this story, told us that they've already made about $2,000 less than they did last year by this point in the show because their new Pinny Arcade pins weren't sent to them in time to sell on the floor.
So if you're at the show and you're wondering if your favorite developers need your support this year, there's reason to guess that they may need it more than ever. I could use your support too! I'll be on two panels today, one on gaming and parenting at the Cuttlefish theater at 5:30pm, and another at 9:30 in the Albatross theater where a group of interesting people and I will be interviewed by a troublemaking artificial intelligence. If you see me, ask me for a free Castlevania comedy comic strip compilation. I gave one to Hideki yesterday and he seemed mildly amused.
