Due to the deteriorating conditions of COVID in the United Kingdom, which saw a new record of COVID-19 cases for both of the past two days, and across Europe, ICE London and the concurrent iGB Affiliate conferences have been postponed to April 2022 with dates to be determined.
ICE London, the largest global gathering of the gaming industry, and iGB Affiliate were scheduled to take place February 1-3 and February 2-5 respectively. More than 700 exhibitors participate in the two events.
The last rendition of the ICE London was in February 2020, with ICE London 2021 being postponed twice and eventually canceled.
Clarion Gaming plans to be in a position to confirm which April dates by Wednesday, December 22.
“It is a great shame that we will not be able to celebrate our return in February but the brand and its international community of stakeholders will bounce back in spring,” Clarion Gaming managing director Stuart Hunter said.
In a note sent to media partners, Clarion Gaming wrote that “the current situation is not offering confidence to our international attendees who need to travel to ICE and with this in mind, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that ICE and iGB Affiliate London will be postponed. The team here at Clarion Gaming are working through alternative options as quickly as we can, but until then I need to ask you to pause your travel plans for February until we confirm new dates.”
“Until two weeks ago, there was nothing stopping ICE and iGB Affiliate London, with appetite from attendees and exhibitors surpassing 2020 levels. But these are not normal times and we are incredibly sad to find ourselves in this position once again,” added the note.
Fueled by the omicron variant, the United Kingdom reported 88,376 cases of COVID-19 Thursday, topping Wednesday’s total by nearly 10,000, which also had set a record of daily cases. However, UK did not have mass testing at the beginning of the pandemic so the true scale of cases in March 2020 remains unknown.
