ReedPop has announced that PAX South has been canceled for the foreseeable future due to COVID-19 and lack of growth. The event is one of many that have struggled to hang on during the pandemic. It has also witnessed stagnant attendance since its inception in 2015. It was left off of the PAX 2021 event list when it was posted last December, but the organizers had hoped to bring it back in 2022.
We have made the difficult decision to bring PAX South to an end for the foreseeable future. See the full statement below: pic.twitter.com/hW8J6wBzxb
— PAX (@pax) October 29, 2021
From the official PAX South website:
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
Other PAX events have attempted to survive in 2021 in one form or another. PAX AUS has now been an online event for two years now, with other locations switching over. In September, PAX West was in-person but had a much smaller attendance due to COVID-19 safety requirements. It was one of the few gaming events to do so. Another, EGX, was also held as an in-person event in London.