As the pandemic is still an on-going threat to gatherings, many public gaming conventions like E3, Tokyo Game Show, orPAXhave been either retooled or outright canceled. Some of this involves reducing the amount of people at a venue or bringing it to life through a different format, such as online showcases and events.
PAX has been affected as well, where so many different branches of these conventions taking different approaches. This was seen from cancelations of PAX East toPAX West attendees requiring a vaccination or negative test. The Texas-based PAX South however will be brought to an end for the foreseeable future.
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PAX was a gaming culture convention that involved tabletop, arcade, and video games, first hosted in 2004, in Bellevue Washington. As the event got bigger and attendee numbers grew, this resulted in the event being expanded into several different branches, culminating in conventions taking place in different cities through PAX East, PAX Unplugged, and even over inMelbourne through PAX Australia. PAX South was an event that took place in San Antonio Texas, the first event being hosted in 2015.
The official Twitter account posted to fans a variety of factors that resulted in the cancelation of the convention. WhilePAX Southwas another iteration of the event that allowed fans in Texas to get together, it was noted as being a smaller event than its counterparts. The size of the show was also the same as the first event in 2015, where it hasn’t grown or reduced since then either. Combined with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, PAX South has been brought to end for the time being.
The post thanks the many attendees and community members from Texas who came to the event over the years. The team apologized that this iteration wasn’t able to happen, and asked that fans could be excited forthe other PAX eventsthat will be happening in the future. Many fans who were anticipating the event were both disappointed yet understanding of the situation. Many understood that the ongoing pandemic makes things hard for fans to gather safely, even for a smaller event like PAX South, especially in cities with higher cases like Texas.
Public safety is the top priority for many conventions, and PAX is no different. While it might be sad thatanother PAX event is being canceled, there are other conventions and events to look forward to in the future. Fans of the convention expressed their heartfelt thanks on Twitter, showing off the memories that they had atPAXSouth, due to things like its smaller, homier nature, and ease of access to the venue.
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