The coronavirus continues to effect professional esports as the Overwatch League has cancelled all matches in China in February and March. The OWL explained their decision in their official announcement on twitter.
Activision Blizzard have canceled Chinese home stand games due to fear of coronavirus outbreak. (Photo courtesy Activision Blizzard)
A total of five home stand weekends are affected by the cancellation. The Shanghai home stand was scheduled to take place February 15th – 16th and would have been the first event hosted in mainland China. The second home stand was scheduled to be hosted by the Hangzhou Spark February 29th – March 1st. The Guangzhou Charge will be most affected by the cancellation because three out of five of their home stand weekends are now cancelled due to the coronavirus.
Individual organizations have already taken precautions in response to the coronavirus such as Guangzhou Charge moving their preseason training to South Korea. The Shanghai Dragons also relocated their team to South Korea.
Fear of the virus spreading has also impacted League of Legends as the LDL and LPL are currently postponed. CS:GO has also felt the impact of the epidemic and has even led to players leaving their organization to avoid competing in mainland China.
The coronavirus has continued to spread around the world and has reached a death toll of at least 162 people. The Overwatch League also stated information on the rescheduling of the matches will come at a later date, so fans may still have a chance to see their favorite teams compete.
