Mayor Marty Walsh is begging Sony Interactive Entertainment to come to Boston this week for the PAX East conference, days after the behemoth video game company announced it was pulling out of the event over coronavirus concerns.
“While we understand that you are concerned for the health and safety of your workforce, we urge you to reconsider and to learn more about the realities of this global health issue,” Walsh wrote on Friday in a letter addressed to Sony Interactive Entertainment executive Shuhei Yoshida.
PAX East is scheduled later this week from Feb. 27 to March 1 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center in the Seaport.
Last week, Sony announced its decision to not attend the major gaming conference that draws participants from around the country and the world.
“We felt this was the safest option as the situation is changing daily,” Sony said in a Wednesday update for PAX East. “We are disappointed to cancel our participation in this event, but the health and safety of our global workforce is our highest concern.”
After Sony made its announcement, Walsh said he didn’t understand the decision, considering there’s “no threat” of coronavirus in the city.
Coronavirus has infected more than 78,000 people around the world. The disease was first detected in Wuhan, China, where the majority of the world’s cases have been confirmed. About 2,500 people have died from the disease.
Massachusetts has had one case of coronavirus, a Chinese student at UMass Boston.
“The risk of contracting coronavirus in Boston and Massachusetts remains extremely low,” Walsh and David Gibbons of the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority wrote in the letter to Sony.
“While we are taking every possible precaution to protect residents, visitors, and workers, we have no reason to believe that people should cancel their plans to visit our city,” they wrote. “Our local, state, and federal health agencies have been working together to monitor the issue, and they have not issued any warnings against attending large events in Boston.”
PAX East organizers last week wrote that they were “saddened” Sony will not attend this year’s show.
“We look forward to welcoming our friends at Sony to future PAX events and are focused on making PAX East 2020 a successful and enjoyable event for all attendees and exhibitors,” PAX East said in a statement.
“No company from mainland China will have anyone from mainland China at the show,” a PAX representative wrote in an email.
The event will have “enhanced cleaning and sanitization,” PAX organizers wrote.
