The following main Video games Completed Fast occasion, January’s Superior Video games Completed Fast, will likely be an online-only occasion after the present’s organisers launched an announcement saying, “We don’t consider [Florida] is a protected place for our neighborhood,” in mild of the state’s putrid insurance policies in direction of Covid and marginalised people.
Whereas the Summer season Video games Completed Fast occasion made a triumphant return to a stay occasion with crowds in July, AGDQ—whose final stay version was in 2019 on the DoubleTree Hilton in Orlando—had for 2023 “secured a contract with a venue in Florida,” an settlement that has now been ditched in mild of the organiser’s choice.
Right here’s their assertion in full (emphasis mine):
AGDQ2023 returns stay, on-line from January eighth to the fifteenth, 2023, benefiting the Forestall Most cancers Basis!
Whereas we might like to return in-person, we’ve decided that to supply a protected and welcoming occasion to all it was greatest that we transfer away from our initially deliberate location in Florida.
Given the state’s continued disregard for COVID-19’s risks (together with anti-mandate vaccination insurance policies) and an elevated aggression in direction of LGBTQ+ people, together with the legislation colloquially often called “Don’t Say Homosexual,” we don’t consider it’s a protected place for our neighborhood right now.
Instantly after the success of AGDQ 2020, we secured a contract with a venue in Florida to return in 2021. For the reason that world pandemic was declared, we postponed in-person occasions till it was protected to return.
We’ve explored a number of choices which might permit us to stay in-person by relocating to a safer location. Sadly, the associated fee required to cancel our contract is simply too nice to justify relocating AGDQ whereas paying the cancellation payment, and we’re now not in a position to delay our contract. This finally led us to maneuver AGDQ 2023 on-line.
Whereas the transfer to on-line will permit us to avoid wasting on bills, we nonetheless have appreciable prices to get well. We wish to get well that cash the place attainable, together with with neighborhood assist by way of Twitch subs. We thank the neighborhood for his or her assist!
It’s a disgrace the transfer has price them, however hopefully the 2024 occasion can discover someplace the workforce is extra snug calling house. Observe this doesn’t have an effect on Summer season Video games Completed Fast, which since 2018 has been held on the DoubleTree Hilton in Bloomington, Minnesota.
