The EVO Series tournament was originally scheduled to take place during the summer in Las Vegas, Nevada. The e-sports series had grown enough to the point where it could accommodate a sizable arena where gamers from all over the world would come to compete for a chance to stake their claim in e-sports immortality. However, this year the live event had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus.
The news was made public via a tweet on the official EVO account on May 1st, 2020.
A message from the Evo team… pic.twitter.com/ANXUXDiNGK
— EVO (@EVO) May 1, 2020
If the tweet is not displaying or the image is not visible in the tweet, the message reads…
“Due to COVID-19, we are sadly cancelling Evo 2020 at Mandalay Bay and refunding all purchased tickets.
“But to keep the Evo spirit alive, we’re bringing the event online this summer. More information coming soon!
“The health and well-being of our community is our highest priority. We hope everyone stays safe during this time.”
It seems like this is a bigger blow to companies like SNK, who had worthwhile entries like Samurai Shodown to showcase while Arc System Works’ Gran Blue Fantasy: Versus was also on the docket to air.
Instead, these games will be played competitively online, without the audience fanfare or the hype surrounding each of the matches.
No more pop-offs, no more cheers, no more jeers.
Others pointed out that the games selected for this year’s event don’t have the best online infrastructure for tournament play, and how will they get around that? The EVO account didn’t respond, but it probably won’t be pretty due to lag, input delay, and other networking issues.
Nevertheless, the EVO account reiterated that they would be refunding all hotel tickets, stadium tickets, or any other purchases made to physically attend this year’s event.
All arena tickets and hotel room reservations will be refunded automatically, there is no need to call in.
We will have a form up next week for tournament registration cancelation options.
— EVO (@EVO) May 1, 2020
We’ll have to wait to find out when the new event will take place, but it won’t be at a physical location this time around. It will be from the comfort of the player’s homes.
