Overwatch League Cancel Upcoming Homestand Events in China
| Tags: Overwatch
| Author David Hollingsworth
With the continued concern around the Coronavirus outbreak in China, the Overwatch League has made the decision to cancel all homestands taking place in China during February and March.
The decision will impact Guangzhou Charge who had three homestands during this period. With Shanghai Dragons and Hangzhou Spark each hosting one homestand each.
The Overwatch League released the following statement on Wednesday, January 29th; “We have decided to cancel our February and March matches in China in order to protect the health and safety of our players, fans, and staff.” The statement said. “We hope fans have a safe and happy Lunar New Year, and we remain incredibly excited to play Overwatch League matches in China later this season. We'll share more information about when and where the matches will take place at a later date. Thank you for your support and understanding!”
Guangzhou Charge, the side that will be impacted the most by the cancellation released a statement on Twitter:
We are saddened by the impact that the coronavirus has had in China and elsewhere. We also understand our fans’ concerns about our plans and the safety of our team in China and would like to provide an update.
👇👇 pic.twitter.com/y7cTmCFQ4R— Guangzhou Charge (@GZCharge) January 28, 2020
So far the Coronavirus has had an impact on multiple esports events. So far we’ve had the Chinese League of Legends Pro League and Development League (LPL & LDL), WESG CS:GO APAC Finals and the LCK having no live audience. We expect this won’t be the last news we hear about it having an impact on the esports calendar. Especially in Asia.
Image via Robert Paul/Blizzard Entertainment
David has written for games media outlets for the last ten years. With his first major esports role being with Esports News UK covering mostly UK League of Legends. David is also a member of the British Esports Association and is an advisor to them on World of Warcraft Esports. More recently David has worked for Esports Insider and Red Bull as an esports journalist.
David later became Editor at ESTNN and now leads the current team.