The League of Legends European Championship will move its spring split final scheduled for April 25-26 from Budapest, Hungary, to Berlin, citing concerns of the spread of the novel coronavirus, Riot Games announced Friday.
The event will now take place at the Riot Games studio in Berlin, which is home to the League European Championship's regular season, quarterfinal and semifinal matches.
"After carefully assessing the situation, we believe that holding the event in a smaller setting and a more controlled environment is the right call," Riot's European head of esports, Alberto Guerrero, said in a statement. "While we currently plan to host a live audience in the Berlin studio, we will continue to monitor the situation and work with local health officials to ensure the safety of players and fans, and will revisit this decision if necessary."
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The move is the latest in a line of gaming and esports cancellations or postponements due to concerns around the coronavirus. The League of Legends Pro League in China halted all in-person matches in January but will resume the season online, a first for the league. Similarly, League Champions Korea suspended play Friday after several weeks of restricting access to its studio in Seoul, South Korea, for media and fans.
Riot has not yet commented on its international events, the Mid-Season Invitational and the League of Legends World Championship, events scheduled for later this year. Riot has not announced a location for MSI, but worlds is supposed to take place in China, where the first cases of the coronavirus were identified.
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The League of Legends Championship Series Spring Split Finals are still scheduled to take place in Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas, on April 18-19, the league announced Friday, but the game developer is "carefully monitoring" the situation.
"The dynamic and rapidly-evolving situation around COVID-19 (AKA coronavirus) is concerning to us, like the rest of the industry," LCS commissioner Chris Greeley said in a statement. "We're in close contact with the venue and local governments to ensure we're compliant with on-the-ground changes."
A message from Chris Greeley, LCS Commissioner pic.twitter.com/Xm12zA1qQm
— LCS (@LCSOfficial) March 6, 2020
Greeley also announced changes for the remaining regular-season matches at LCS Studio in Santa Monica, California.
"Out of an abundance of caution due to the coronavirus outbreak, we'll be suspending fan meets, victory high fives and postgame handshakes until further notice. As these precautions may disappoint some of our fans, we'll be offering refunds to ticket holders."
On Friday, the coronavirus eclipsed 100,000 cases worldwide. It has killed nearly 3,400 people, primarily in China, the epicenter of the outbreak, according to The Associated Press. More than half of those who contracted the virus have now recovered.
Concerns about the disease have caused cancellations of events across dozens of sports worldwide as well as questions about whether this year's Tokyo Olympics will be affected. Gaming and esports have also felt the impact of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
On Thursday, Rocket League developer Psyonix announced it will not run the Rocket League Season 9 World Championship, which was scheduled for April 24-26 in Dallas. The League of Legends Pro League in China, after a nearly monthlong hiatus, will return in an online format because of the threat of the virus, and League Champions Korea is now being postponed with the number of additional cases in South Korea reaching 505 on Friday alone.
In Europe, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's IEM Katowice tournament was played out without an audience because of the outbreak, and in the U.S., the Game Developers Conference was delayed.
Although no Call of Duty events have been canceled yet, Activision-Blizzard's Overwatch League has seen its homestands in China and South Korea go to the wayside for now. No plans have been announced yet for making up those matches.