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Annecy 2020 Festival Canceled Due to COVID-19 Concerns
posted on by Alex Mateo
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival announced on Tuesday that it has cancelled this year's event due to concerns about the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease. The event will get an online version that will include exclusive and original content. The organizers will announce the festival's selection of content on April 15. Next year's festival will be held from June 14 to 19, 2021, and it will celebrate the event's 60th anniversary.
Established in 1960, Annecy is the world's oldest and largest animation film festival. This year, it was scheduled to run from June 15 to 20 at the French community of the same name.
Nighthawk Interactive announced on Tuesday that it has delayed the physical release of the Azure Striker Gunvolt: Striker Pack game collection for PlayStation 4 in the WEST. due to "ongoing business restrictions and store closures" related to COVID-19. The collection was scheduled to ship on April 28. The company did not announce a new release date, but Amazon and Gamestop are listing a June 30 release.
The pack will launch digitally for the PS4 on April 23. The collection will launch physically and digitally in Japan on April 23. The game collection includes Azure Striker Gunvolt and Azure Striker Gunvolt 2.
Inti Creates originally released the set for the Nintendo 3DS in August 2016 in Japan, and in October 2016 in North America. The collection received a release for Nintendo Switch in August 2017.
Konami announced on Tuesday that it has canceled its Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championship 2020 event, which was scheduled for August 22 to 23. The company has canceled the World Championship Qualifiers set for Ecuador, Mexico, and Florida in June. All National Championships are postponed, and the Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series Pasadena event, originally scheduled for May 23 to 24, is also postponed.
The first reported cases of COVID-19 were in Wuhan, China in December, and then the disease began to spread in varying rates and intensities across many parts of the globe through incubation in human hosts. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a world health emergency on January 30, and announced on March 11 that it is classifying the outbreak as a pandemic. As of Monday, the WHO reported that there are 1,210,956 infected individuals worldwide. 67,594 individuals have died from the disease.
As of Monday, the WHO reported that Japan has 3,654 cases of COVID-19 with 73 deaths. These numbers do not include the number of cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama. That cruise ship had 712 infected passengers with seven deaths.
Sources: Annecy International Animation Film Festival's website and Twitter account, Variety (Elsa Keslassy), Nighthawk Interactive's Twitter account via Gematsu, email correspondence
