The League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational event will not take place this year due to COVID-19 concerns.
As revealed in an update, the tournament was scheduled to take place from July 3rd-to-19th after being pushed back from May. However, as it's "highly unlikely" that the coronavirus situation will have eased off by then, the event has been cancelled.
"Based on the modeling of our external risk advisors, however, it appears highly unlikely that either the global spread/impact of COVID-19 or the restrictive travel and public gathering policies responding to the crisis will abate significantly by the time of MSI’s current planned dates (July 3-19)," said global head for League of Legends esports John Needham.
"With this model plus input from health authorities, local governments, regional leagues and teams, travel experts, and other stakeholders, we have made the difficult decision to not hold MSI in 2020."
The decision was made to protect the staff, fans and players. However, the team can now look forward and get ready to plan the 2020 League of Legends World Championship.
"This decision also allows us to dedicate our global esports team and resources to planning for Worlds 2020," said Needham.
"We are totally committed to delivering the biggest spectacle we’ve ever produced in China to celebrate our sport’s 10-year anniversary. While we must remain nimble with our plans, we are eager to celebrate everything that we love about League of Legends with a memorable Worlds 2020."
Earlier this month, Riot teamed up with ESPN for Valorant esports. The American firm has claimed it would like the tactical shooter to "grow naturally" as an esport.
