Overwatch League moves matches to South Korea after coronavirus outbreak
The current coronavirus outbreak (aka COVID-19) is affecting the esports world as much as other industries. The Overwatch League is moving cancelled homestand matches at Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai to Seoul, South Korea during weeks 6 and 7 of the competition, with some possibly being attached to Seoul Dynasty’s home event in week 5. The league had scrubbed its February and March matches in China to “protect the health and safety” of fans, competitors and organizers.
A specific schedule is coming “soon,” but the league promised that this wouldn’t affect other Overwatch homestands in Washington, Florida and Atlanta.
There are still questions about how well cancelling events helps limit the spread of viruses. However, the league might not have had much choice. Whether or not the threat of infections was high, people are spooked. There wouldn’t be much point to hosting matches at half-empty venues, and companies like Activision Blizzard don’t want even the slightest chance of contributing to COVID-19 infections.
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