Following a statement made by the Japanese Government, asking its citizens to restrict international travel whenever possible, developers Capcom, KOEI and Square Enix decided not to send their Japanese representatives to the E3 convention in Los Angeles.
However, Capcom has stated that representatives of the organization from outside Japan will still attend the convention. Nevertheless, despite the fact that Dead Rising 2 is being developed by the Canadian developer Blue Castle Games, the game will not be shown at the tradeshow in June. In an interview with Kotaku, Capcom’s director of Communications and Communities stated that the reason behind the decision not to demo the game at the E3, was that the developers were not comfortable with having another person show the early Alpha version of the game. It was planned that one of Capcom Japan’s representatives would show a demo of the game to the public.
Similarly, Square Enix reported that they would not be sending their Kingdom Hearts team to Los Angeles for the E3, but the developer / publisher would maintain a strong presence from its American and European representatives. Developer KOEI, well known for the Dynasty Warriors series, also stated they would limit the number of Japanese representatives they would send to the show.
Developers Konami and Tecmo have made statements that they currently still plan to attend the show and maintain their schedule. Japanese console manufacturers Nintendo and Sony have stated they do not intend to limit their presence at the E3 in any way.
Over the past week, Japan has seen an explosive growth in the number Swine Flu cases. Despite indications that nearly all of these cases were contracted in the United States, infections have already been discovered in the densely populated Tokyo and Osaka areas.