Planners of conventions and many other events of all kinds have had a very challenging year and a half — thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic — with some events only now returning (or seeing plans for a return) to the traditional in-person format. But one major convention will not be returning for a long while, if ever. The organizers of the big-name Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) series of events, ReedPop, have decided to suspend PAX South in 2022 and going forward.
The PAX team released a statement Friday, Oct. 29, explaining the backstory behind PAX, the start of PAX South in 2015, and the reasons behind the “difficult decision to bring PAX South to an end for the foreseeable future.”
PAX South was kicked off in 2015 and launched with promise, attracting the largest first-year PAX event attendance ever. As noted in the official statement, subsequent growth in following years was apparently insufficient or unsustainable. And then the pandemic hit, leading to the cancellation of PAX South 2021. According to ReedPop’s PAX South page, PAX South was focused on indie and tabletop games and attracted over 30,000 attendees, 125+ media folks, and about 400 exhibitors — with some of these stats appearing to be event “lifetime” stats aggregated since 2015. It’s possible, since the wording in the statement leaves a bit of wiggle room, for a return of a PAX-branded event in some shape or form down the road.
The PAX team hosted PAX West in early September and PAX Aus in early October, with PAX Unplugged still on deck before the end of the year.
Events for Gamers (in Texas)
If you are in Texas, the Midwest or southern U.S., as sad as it may be to know PAX South isn’t going to be on anyone’s calendar for at least a while, Events for Gamers (E4G) will be on the lookout for other events in these areas that may interest attendees.
For starters, check out these events in Texas scheduled over the next several months (which we’ll also add to the E4G calendar, so keep an eye out for that):
PokeFest SA 2021 (San Antonio, TX), Nov. 5-6): https://www.pokefestsa.com/
Houston Arcade Expo (Houston, TX), Nov. 12-14: https://www.arcadecenter.com/
Anime Fest 2021 (Dallas, TX), Dec. 17-19: https://animefest.org/
ATG Expo (Waco, TX), Feb. 12-13, 2022: https://atgexpo.com/
SXSW 2022 (Austin, TX), March 11-20 (https://www.sxsw.com)
RTX Austin (Austin, TX), July 1-3, 2022: https://www.rtxevent.com/
DreamCon (Arlington, TX), July 15-17, 2022: https://www.dreamconvention.com/
Browse the E4G calendar for many other events, or use the map if you want to look for events by location.
