SAN FRANCISCO, March 13 — A host of regional and international esports events are postponing, cancelling or moving events online or behind closed doors in response to measures taken against the Covid-19 coronavirus.
The US$1 million (RM4.27 million) Los Angeles Major for Dota 2, a stop-off en route to multimillion August championship The International, has been cancelled by game developer Valve and its organiser, the ESL.
Instead of having the competition held behind closed doors, the March 15-22 will instead be held at a later date, as a result of “recent travel restrictions and the evolving Covid-19 situation.”
“We are deeply disappointed but believe this outcome is in the best interest of all who make these incredible events possible,” ESL announced in a statement.
League of Legends, which also inhabits the top tier of wildly lucrative MOBA esports games, has taken the precaution of moving a Mid-Season Invitational from May back to July 3-19.
Its regionally coordinated Summer Split event has also been reorganised, running May 15 to June 6, with one remaining date to be announced.
“Shifting the [Mid-Season Invitational] tournament to the summer offers the best chance to see travel restrictions lifted, allowing teams from leagues around the world to travel and compete safely,” explained John Needham, the game’s Global Head of Esports.
Meanwhile, the League of Legends European Championship (LEC) is continuing with a European Championship Spring Split event set for late April in Berlin, but will restrict access to teams only; onsite audience and press attendance is being cancelled for the “health and safety of our pro players, fans, press, and staff.”
Another popular esports title, first-person team action game “Overwatch,” has also made adjustments to its competitive calendar.
In addition to previous scheduling changes in China, Overwatch League has scrubbed all physical venue match events set for March and April.
Such homestand events usually take place at one of several approved locations local to the home team.
With OWL franchise teams based in the USA, Canada, France, UK and South Korea as well as China, the cancellation affects the league on a global basis.
Among others taking measures against the spread of coronavirus have been the globetrotting Counter-Strike: Global Offensive ESL Pro League, whose March 16 — April 12 Season 11 will be played entirely online, its finals moved from US to a closed European studio, a March 20-22 Hearthstone Masters event, already moved from Indonesia to Los Angeles, also will now be entirely online instead, while 2020’s TwitchCon Amsterdam, a huge continental expo and meetup for Amazon’s video game livestreaming platform, has been nixed. — AFP-Relaxnews
