Final Kombat Last Chance Qualifier Cancelled

Final Kombat, the culmination of Mortal Kombat esports for the year, will now be running both without an audience, and without a Last Chance Qualifier due to COVID-19 concerns.

The timing for this announcement is less than ideal as many players have come out of pocket to attend the Last Chance qualifier for the event.

“We understand this is disappointing to fans who were hoping to attend,” Netherrealm said in a statement. “This decision was made to protect the health and safety of our fans, staff, and players.”

Due to the last minute nature of the event, organizer Intersport will be offering refunds on hotel and flight accommodations that were non-refundable. These refunds only have a week’s window on them, and requests must be submitted before March 13th.

The Last Chance Qualifier had some of the game’s best players signed up for it that fell short throughout the course of the year. 126 competitors were signed up to compete. Some highlights included HoneyBee, Coach Steve, DJT, Kitana Prime, Perfect Legend, and more. 

Players from around the Mortal Kombat community have begun voicing their displeasure on social media:

When you’re literally in the car on the express way driving to this and then they announce it the day before how nice https://t.co/OyH2JMC5xr

— Perfect Legend (@PerfectLegend) March 6, 2020

Did we really cancel the event day of?

LCQ and no Final Kombat audience. Day of? Communication, forever the worst aspect of WB/NRS/whoever.

Is what it is, though. Safety over everything, but if this decision should've been made in a better timeline.

— KP (@Kitana_Prime) March 6, 2020

Theres no way you can revert AT LEAST the LCQ decision? You have every single competitor angry with you about this including the ones besides me that are still traveling https://t.co/LvDWUj6AzX

— Coach Steve (@FightCoachFight) March 6, 2020

Despite this the show will go on at Final Kombat, with several of the game’s top players vying for a prize pool of $100,000 USD. The finals will take place at Park West Theater in Chicago, IL on March 8.

Coronavirus continues to have a massive impact on esports. Hotspawn has done a massive rundown of the effects thus far, which you should read here.