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PAX West is returning this year as a live event

Life is returning to normal and PAX isn't waiting another year to get another in-person PAX West running.

Ozzie Mejia

June 22, 2021 11:05 AM

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The COVID-19 pandemic isn't over, but it is beginning to subside here in the United States. While certain activities are safer than they were a year ago, thanks to the handful of vaccine options, the organizers at PAX are looking to get back on the horse sooner than later. On Tuesday, the expo organizers announced that PAX West would make its return for its usual Labor Day Weekend spot and the event will be open to in-person attendees.

"Since the last major North American on-location gaming event, PAX East 2020, ReedPop and Penny Arcade have cancelled six consecutive in-person shows, prioritizing the health of the PAX community," reads the official press release. "Show organizers are working with venue officials, local governments, and health authorities to determine event capacity, which will be reduced, and ensure a safe setting. Detailed health and safety guidelines will be released in the leadup to PAX West 2021."

This PAX West announcement is not to be confused with the upcoming PAX Online 2021. The latter is returning as a replacement for this year's PAX East and will run from July 15-18. That event will also be run in conjunction with EGX Rezzed Digital.

Details on exhibitors for PAX West will be laid out in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, the PAX Arena already has a few events lined up. PAX Arena will be holding a Valorant amateur open tournament with a $10,000 USD prize pool. The amateur tournament will run during PAX Online and participants will be recruited by the sponsoring Metro Esports to compete in-person at PAX West.

PAX West badges will sell for $230 for the whole weekend. Individual one-day badges will go for $60 each. Even with COVID numbers starting to decline substantially, some will say that this is too soon for convention life to resume. Are you among them? Join the conversation in the comments and give us your opinion. In the meantime, we'll continue monitoring the PAX situation here at Shacknews. Stay tuned for the latest updates and check out the PAX West website for more information.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?