All Overwatch League Events In March And April Have Been Cancelled Due To COVID-19 Coronavirus
In today’s COVID-19 related news, Activision Blizzard has announced the cancellation of all Overwatch League events running from March to April as a precaution against the deadly coronavirus outbreak, which has just been classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization.
“The health and safety of employees, fans, players, teams, and partners is paramount to Activision Blizzard Esports,” tweeted Acti-Blizz. “Concurrently, we are working hand-in-hand with our teams to see that all matches are played when it’s safe and feasible, staying as close to our originally planned schedule as possible.”
But, where there’s a will there’s a way and the studio says they’re considering other options available to esports so that the OWL teams, including those in China, “can get back to doing what they do best.”
The League’s third competitive season kicked off on February 8th, which according to Polygon, was meant to be the debut of the new Home and Away system. As part of this system, teams would have been required to travel to around the world to compete in host cities. Obviously not a good idea when you’ve got a deadly virus spreading like wildfire.
In a follow-up tweet from Pete Vlastelica, the Activision Blizzard CEO clarified that only the events were cancelled and that matches would still be played albeit with a few changes to the original schedule.
Watch the latest Overwatch League highlight video below featuring Philadelphia Fusion’s tanks, Poko and Sado.
