ReedPop and Penny Arcade have announced they will be cancelling the previously scheduled PAX East 2021 in favor of a digital-only PAX Online 2021.

As explained in an official statement, the decision to cancel the June-scheduled PAX East 2021 comes “in light of ongoing health concerns”, although the showrunners are hopeful that PAX West and PAX Unplugged will still be able to go on as planned later this year. To replace PAX East, PAX Online will be making a return from July 15th till July 18th, hoping to build upon the success of last year’s iteration.

You can read the full statement from ReedPop and Penny Arcade below:

ReedPop and Penny Arcade Statement on PAX East 2021, PAX Online

In light of ongoing public health concerns, ReedPop and Penny Arcade will not hold PAX East this year. Given the United States’ progress towards addressing COVID-19 in recent months, we are cautiously optimistic PAX West and PAX Unplugged will proceed as planned with in-person festivities September 3 to 6 and December 10 to 12, respectively.

Since we can’t wait until September to reconnect with the wonderful PAX community, PAX Online will return July 15 to 18. We hope to build on the success of last year’s record-breaking event and also engage with our community in new ways, such as the Indie Showcase that will take place between now and PAX Online. Expect to hear more about these exciting plans soon.

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. 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.

ReedPop and Penny Arcade will continue to monitor the situation surrounding COVID-19, observe government guidelines and local laws, and defer to health officials and experts on what is deemed safe.

We are grateful for the efforts everyone made to make PAX East happen in 2021, and we look forward to returning to Boston in 2022.

— Kyle Marsden-Kish, PAX Event Director, ReedPop

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