Blizzard has been pressured to cancel much more Overwatch League video games in Asia following rising issues across the coronavirus outbreak. The corporate has canceled a series of matches that had been set to happen in South Korea between February 29th and March 22nd “as a way to shield the well being and security of our gamers, followers, and workers.”
This contains various make-up matches that had been moved to Korea following the cancellation of video games in China in addition to house video games to be hosted by the Seoul Dynasty on the Dongdaemun Design Plaza on March seventh and eighth. “We’re working with the league on rescheduling these matches and can share extra info by means of the league when it’s accessible,” the Dynasty mentioned in a statement. Dynasty mother or father firm Gen.G Esports previously said that it will be donating 100 % of the proceeds from the occasion, together with merchandise gross sales by means of March, to coronavirus-related charities.
Final month, Blizzard introduced that it canceled all OWL video games in China that had been slated for February and March.
The Overwatch League is presently within the midst of its third season, and it’s an important one for the league’s future. It’s the primary season during which every of the league’s 20 groups is slated to host matches of their specific metropolis; OWL options groups in six completely different international locations and three continents. Asia is a very necessary marketplace for the league, with 4 groups primarily based in China and plenty of star gamers hailing from South Korea.
“It wasn’t [a decision] we took calmly,” Jon Spector, VP of enterprise operations and product technique for Overwatch esports, instructed The Verge earlier this month. “We’ve been enthusiastic about enjoying these matches in China for years, the followers and the gamers are enthusiastic about it. However we by no means had a single dialogue the place participant security didn’t come first.” Three weeks in, all league video games have been hosted by American groups, most just lately the Washington Justice this previous weekend.
After all, OWL is way from the one enterprise impacted by the coronavirus outbreak, and that features a number of different notable esports occasions. The Chinese language League of Legends Professional League suspended play only a week into the 2020 season, and it presently plans to kick off an online practice competition beginning February 26th. In the meantime, League of Legends Champions Korea continues to be enjoying matches however with out spectators, and the King Professional League — a Chinese language league for the favored cell sport Honor of Kings / Enviornment of Valor — will be played online instead of in studios and arenas.
