The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has claimed a full esports circuit, as Arc System Works has pulled the plug on Arc World Tour 2020.
A number of esports leagues and circuits have been hoping to carry on in the face of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Some have shifted to online-only events while others have had events postponed. For Arc System Works, the burden of the ongoing coronavirus crisis has proven to be too much to handle. On Monday night, the publisher announced that the Arc System Tour 2020 is being canceled outright.
The following comes from the issued press release:
The latest Arc World Tour was set to focus on BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle and Granblue Fantasy: Versus, with a $100,000 prize pool set to be allocated over the course of the year. With the circuit’s cancellation, ARCREVO Japan 2020 and the Arc World Tour 2020 Finals are expected to be replaced by independent events, while ARCREVO Korea 2020 and DAREDEVIL are canceled entirely.
While the continuing COVID-19 crisis has led to postponements for the Capcom Pro Tour and Tekken World Tour, as well as the postponements and cancellations of other major fighting game events, this is the first case of a full fighting game circuit being totally cancelled. It’s another in a growing list of gaming casualties under the continuing coronavirus pandemic. Stay tuned to Shacknews as we continue to monitor any and all news related to this escalating situation.