QuakeCon, the summer gaming convention that began in 1996 as a small gathering of deathmatchers and grew over the years into a major annual spectacle, has been canceled.The 2020 event was scheduled to run through August, but Bethesda said the ongoing pandemic due to "uncertainty" meant that the planning and preparation needed to hold the convention was simply not possible, and that is not what people should be focusing on anyway, it said.

"In light of all of the logistical challenges and uncertainty we are currently facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have made the difficult decision to cancel this year's QuakeCon," Bethesda and id Software said in a joint statement.

"The health and safety of our employees, volunteers, vendors, sponsors, and players has always been our top priority, and in these times we felt it would be wrong to talk about the one thing none of us should be doing right now: gathering.

"We don't know what the pandemic will look like this August, but we do know that it is impossible to complete the work and planning with our partners, vendors, volunteers, and others necessary to make QuakeCon a success.

Last year's event was a big celebration of Doom's 25th anniversary, and Bethesda suggested that QuakeCon in 2020 could match it as it is the "25th anniversary of the event." It's a shame, but Doom Eternal would surely have had a big presence this year, and while we'll miss that wild custom-built rig, it's absolutely the right (and inevitable) decision under the circumstances.

For the latest information on coronaviruses as they relate to the industry, see here; for more information on the Covid-19 coronavirus, see the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the latest information on North America, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, or the World Health Organization (WHO).