Swedish gaming and cosplay festival NärCon Sommar announced that they have to postpone the 2020 edition until next year due to the current situation around COVID-19 and the take measures by the Swedish government.
The organisation shared on their website: “We have done our best to keep hope alive and prepare for the festival this summer. Now, the Swedish government has said that the cap of 50 people at events is likely to remain throughout the Summer. Unfortunately, that means we have to postpone the festival until next year, July 29–August 1 2021.” In addition, the organiSation said: “Postponing the festival feels very sad! We were so much looking forward to this year’s festival and we know that it’s a highlight of the year to many people. But we will get through this! And we will use this extra time to make next year’s festival really special.”
The event is known as the largest gaming and cosplay festival in the Nordic countries and is known as an alcohol and drug-free festival with a focus on making new friends, offers 700 activities from lectures, stage shows to games and tournaments (especially Nordic Cosplay Championship). The location of this festival is Linköping University.
All purchased tickets, accommodation, Artist Alley passes, cosplay passes and other products will be valid for the event next year. Ticket sales for NärCon Sommar 2021 started on 20 May. The event also organises a Winter edition of this festival, named NärCon Vinter, tickets for this event will be sold from fall.
NärConline
In the weekend that NärCon Sommar 2020 was supposed to take place, there will be an online event with the name NärConline. It will be their own version of Serious Request, where they will be streaming from 23 July until 26 July, 24/7, and fill the programming with cosplay, gaming and a lot of other content. In this way, the organisation wants to make a digital version of NärCon and at the same time they will raise money for the Swedish help organisation and fundraising foundation Radiohjälpen. More information can be found in the Facebook event that was made for this online event.
All changes of Japan-related events and events where Japanese musicians are planned to perform are compiled in a list that you can find here. This list will be regularly updated.
Source: NärCon