While China’s general public is gaming a lot more recently as the novel coronavirus keeps people at home, e-sports professionals who have to play in public arenas are seeing league games and tournaments being postponed and canceled.
Tencent said that e-sports leagues for PUBG, League of Legends, CrossFire and CrossFire Mobile have decided that games scheduled in February are postponed, citing public health threats. Overwatch League also announced that matches in China are canceled through at least March, with two of the four China-based teams looking to either partially or entirely relocate to South Korea. The sudden coronavirus outbreak has disrupted the Overwatch League’s plan to host city-based home and away games in the upcoming season.
Outside mainland China, the WESG Asia-Pacific Finals for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was canceled in Macau. A Pokémon Video Game Championships event in Hong Kong scheduled for February has also been killed.
This article first appeared in Abacus News.