EA announced Wednesday that the Online Tournaments for the Global Series will go ahead as planned, despite announcing the suspension of the Live Events. This should come as good news for the competitive Apex scene, which originally looked set to make an emphatic return in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe. As things stand there are two Online Tournaments left to play, with the second still open for registration.
Apex Qualifiers will only offer ALGS points. (Photo courtesy Respawn)
Online Tournament #2 will take place this weekend, March 21st & 23rd, and feature competitors from eight regions. Instead of competing for Travel or Qualification to the postponed GLL Paris Premier Event #1, players will play for ALGS Points. ALGS Points will be used to seed teams and award guaranteed spots at a Major, whenever that may be. Meanwhile registration for Online Tournament #3, April 4th & 6th, will open up at 10:00 AM PDT on March 24th.
The Paris Premier Event which was scheduled for April 24th to 26th, is the second Live Event that has been postponed, the first being the $500,000 Major which was supposed to take place in Texas from March 13th to 15th. EA have also suspended all live events for their competitive gaming series, which include FIFA, FIFA Online 4 and Madden NFL 20.
“Thank you again for your understanding during this unprecedented time,” said EA in the official announcement. “Our priority is protecting our competitors, our employees, our partner’s employees and our communities. As we continue to monitor the situation around the Coronavirus and receive updated guidance from health officials around the world, we will provide continued updates on the Apex Legends Global Series.”
With no reliable information on when offline competition can safely resume, EA’s decision to run the Online Tournaments is a wise one. However, with no guaranteed prize money, it may not be enough to warrant retaining an Apex Legends squad in these troubled times.
