ReedPop and Penny Arcade have announced they’re cancelling the in-person PAX East 2021 expo and they’ve replaced it with PAX Online 2021, which is set for July 15th through the 18th.

Despite the cancellation of the in-person event, the event organizers confirmed they are committed to PAX East 2022 definitely happening in-person and are also optimistic for PAX West and PAX Unplugged, both of which are coming later this year.

PAX East has been held in the Boston Convention Center since 2010, and despite the newly arising COVID-19 concerns earlier last year, PAX East 2020 was still held in the Boston Convention Center, making this the first year the in-person event has been cancelled altogether.

Here’s the full statement:

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 Sept. 3-6 and Dec. 10-12, respectively.

Since we can’t wait until September to reconnect with the wonderful PAX community, PAX Online will return July 15-18. 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