Riot Games, developer of League of Legends has announced the cancellation it’s LEC Spring Finals, which were set to be held in Budapest, Hungary.
The news was released early today in tweet with an accompanying post on the LEC’s official website.
The finals will still take place, instead broadcast from the LEC’s studio in Berlin. At the time of writing, the company was still preparing to allow a live audience to attend the finals, but suggested that this could change with developing circumstances.
The news of the cancellation comes as the latest in spate of delays, league format changes, and other issues caused by the CORVID-19 coronavirus which have affected League of Legends and esports as whole.
This week, for the first time since it’s recent cancellation, Korea’s LCK resumed play in an online format. That change was prompted by concerns about the virus, which initially forced the league to deny entry to a live audience, then press, followed by a full cancellation of LAN events. Despite the new online-only format, fans were still treated to an incredible spectacle as legendary player Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok recorded his 2000th career kill.
China’s LPL faced similar issues to the LCK. After a delay to the scheduled start of its Spring Split, the league tested online play with non-league scrims, and then fully moved into an online format.
In the accompanying post Riot Games’ head of esports for Europe Alberto “Tiroless” Guerrero expressed his sympathy for the fans affected by the LEC Spring Finals announcement: “We understand that this is a disappointment for fans, particularly those in Hungary, but we will look into options to bring the LEC to Budapest in the future. We’d like to thank all of our fans, players, and partners for their continued trust and support throughout this time.”
The question on everyone’s mind going forward will be which league will be next to postpone it’s games or move to an online format? Both the LEC (based in Germany) and LCS (Based in Los Angeles, USA) seem to be under threat of further hiatus due to the CORVID-19. And the LCS is already making adaptations as revealed in a recently released statement:
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