Time for a showdown?

So, Heidelberg has pulled out of Drupa, citing the “unforeseeable effects of Covid-19”. Instead, the company - which was to have taken up a major part of Messe Dusseldorf’s hall 1 - will focus on “new, virtual trade fair concepts and regional events”. You have to ask what this move - in light of other high-profile exhibitor withdrawals and stand downsizing - means for this event and the future of international print trade shows. Are they outmoded and irrelevant now?