Sadly, we have the unfortunate news to report that Penny Arcade has decided to end PAX South for the foreseeable future. PAX South, one of the many PAX gaming events that were held in San Antonio, was just one of the many cons that have been affected by the pandemic, COVID-19. When you thought things were on the upswing, things took a turn for the worse. As such, Penny Arcade has made the hard decision to shut down PAX South, with no mention of if or when it will return.
While numerous cons have delayed the events for another year or managed to take them online, Penny Arcade has announced that PAX South won’t be coming back. In a heartfelt letter to its fans, Penny Arcade delivered the following news;
When the first PAX was held in 2004, we expected at most a hundred locals to show up. Never in our wildest dreams did we anticipate more than 3,000 passionate fans to arrive, or for our one-time event to turn into a series held in five cities around the world.
While each of our other events have flourished, some of them drawing hundreds of thousands of attendees from around the world, PAX South hasn’t expanded and to some extent has remained the same show that it was when we opened it in 2015.
Faced with that reality, and compounded by the impact of COVID-19, we have made the difficult decision to bring PAX South to an end for the foreseeable future.
The heart of PAX South lives on in the incredible memories we made in our Texas community and with the international fans and Enforcers who came out to support the show. We’re sorry to all our friends who were looking forward to the show’s return in 2022 – we join them in that – but we hope to see you again at our other events as PAX returns. You will forever be part of our family and the legacy of PAX. We learned a great deal from you, and future shows will be better for it.
Thank you, San Antonio, for always embodying the PAX spirit by welcoming home gamers and the people who make the things we love.
– The PAX Team
All of us here at The Outerhaven have made a trek to one con or another during the past few years, with several of us enjoying our visits to PAX East. I can’t even begin to tell you how much we miss meeting up with our friends in the industry and making new friends. I never thought when my wife and I headed off to PAX East 2020 that it would be the last one we’d be able to attend. While PAX East may eventually return, for our Southern friends, their PAX South adventures are over until Penny Arcade decides to bring it back.
Ok, so I didn’t want to say this, but after speaking with others, I felt this was needed. In all likelihood, the fact that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had banned any COVID-19 vaccine mandates, didn’t help PAX South’s chances. PAX West is a good example, as this event has mandated that all attendees must be vaccinated. This wasn’t possible in the state of Texas, so Penny Arcade and ReedPop really didn’t have a choice. They have expressed over and over that they will not host events without the proper precautions in place. So, yeah, the administration of Texas didn’t help matters.
It sucks to see something that people loved and enjoyed so much, but sadly, this is the world we live in. Damn, this really sucks.
Source: PAX South website
