Boston's PAX East has been cancelled due to – what else? – the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

In a statement on the event's site, organisers ReedPop and Penny Arcade said that the show would not be going ahead as previously anticipated. In December of last year, the duo announced with "optimism" that PAX East would be taking place between June 3rd and 6th.

"While we hoped PAX East could safely take place, we remained realistic and did not sell any tickets or space to exhibitors to avoid significantly inconveniencing our friends and partners," the organisers wrote.

"As we have shown via our actions throughout the pandemic, our utmost concern is the safety of the PAX family — from attendees, exhibitors, and show staff to media and content creators — as well as the local communities that host our celebrations of all things gaming. We will only move forward with a live PAX once we are confident the show will be safe for everyone."

PAX returns between September 3rd and 6th with West, while PAX Unplugged will be taking place from December 10th to 12th.