A few days ago, Valve announced that the ESL One: Rio 2020 major scheduled for the end of 2020 would be cancelled. Initially, the tournament was supposed to take place in May, but was postponed to November, and many eSports fans were looking forward to it.
In its blog, Valve explains that previously, when the dates for the tournament were first announced, it was impossible to predict how the situation with coronavirus would develop. Therefore, now that the pandemic continues to pose a threat in many countries, the organizers have decided to cancel the tournament so as not to risk the health of players and fans who might want to attend the matches.
The bad news from Valve, unfortunately, does not end there. The tournament organizer reports that all subsequent majors will also be canceled until the situation returns to normal. ESL officials released the following statement: “Right now, Valve cannot say with certainty when or in what form majors will return again, but we will make every effort to host a major in Rio as soon as possible. New dates will be announced as soon as it becomes possible to gather players in one arena without risking their safety."
