Microsoft isn’t planning to host its Build developer conference in its home city of Seattle next year. The conference is being relocated, and Microsoft has reportedly canceled all its holds for Build at the Seattle convention center “for all future years.”
“Our plans for Build 2026 have changed, but our vision to empower builders and developers at a major event next year remains unchanged,” said an unnamed Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Seattle Medium. “We appreciate the city and community for their support over the years.” We asked Microsoft to clarify why it’s moving out of Seattle, but the company provided the same statement.
It’s not clear where Build will be located next year, or even if Microsoft may decide to make it an online-only event. The Seattle Medium reports that the decision to move Build could have been related to attendee experiences in downtown Seattle. It cites an unnamed email that claims Build attendees had “cited the general uncleanliness of the streets, visible drug use, and the presence of unhoused individuals.”
Microsoft has held Build in Seattle since 2017, apart from the pandemic years of 2020 to 2022 when it was online-only. Build originally started as a successor for the company’s Professional Developers Conference (PDC) and MIX events in 2011, and was held initially in the Anaheim convention center in California. Microsoft then hosted Build on its own campus in 2012, before moving the developer conference to the Moscone Center in San Francisco for four years.
Attendees at Build this year were met with heavier security than usual as hundreds of protesters outside the venue gathered to protest against Microsoft’s contracts with the Israeli government. Protesters released balloons with alarms attached, unfurled banners, dropped leaflets, and even disrupted Microsoft’s Build keynotes and sessions.
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