A frenzy has been caused around the world due to Coronavirus and mass gatherings and events are being called off on a daily basis due to the health risks this contagious virus poses to humans. A lot of esports events have also been affected by this epidemic and there seems to be no stop to it.
The International 2020, originally slated for early 2020 in Stockholm, Sweden, will be postponed due to evolving concerns about COVID-19.
Valve released a statement earlier today regarding the developing situation.
In a statement on official website, Valve said:
After extensive consideration of the global health emergency stemming from COVID-19, we have made the difficult choice to delay The International. We have been exploring various date possibilities, but it is likely that the event will need to happen in 2021. Given the highly volatile landscape for local gathering restrictions, virus trajectory, and global travel policies, we don’t expect to have enough confidence to communicate firm dates in the near future. In the meantime, we are working on restructuring the DPC season for the fall, and will be providing more information as soon as we have it. The 10th International prize pool will be funded by 25% of sales of the next Battle Pass, which we are planning to release soon instead of closer to the event itself. However, with our team working from home and things taking longer to complete, the release date of the Battle Pass will be at least a couple of weeks later than usual. We hope everyone in the Dota community is staying as safe as possible, and look forward to a time when we can once again welcome everyone to enjoy the spectacle of The International.
The International is known for having the biggest prize pool every year within the eSports scenario and each year exceeding the earlier one. The International 2019 set a crowdfunded esports prize pool record by eclipsing the previous years’ record, finalizing at US$34,300,000. The tournament was the most-watched Dota 2 event ever on the live-streaming platform Twitch, with a peak of over 1.1 million viewers during the grand finals.
Considering the current scenario of this virus’ spread around the world, it only looks like a fair decision. The event’s organizers hold health and safety in their highest regards.
