It’s a strange day when gaming news is affected by news of a virus outbreak – if anything, one might expect a Resident Evil story to come out of it. But yet here we are!
As most of the world is now aware, there’s been a staggeringly intense outbreak of a coronavirus in China over the last few weeks. As of writing this, the virus has reportedly claimed eighty lives, and even jumped oceans, as cases are now beginning to pop up on the west coast of the United States. With thousands of people afflicted with the virus, things are starting to take a turn as China and third-party organizations begin to take actions to halt the spread of the virus.
The latest action taken was from Riot Games, who have now indefinitely suspended the LDL and LPL, the largest League of Legends leagues in China. There is no date set for when these leagues will begin again, as there is no way to predict when the virus will have been handled well enough that play can safely resume.
“Due to the scale of the coronavirus, we have decided to delay the start of week 2 of the LPL indefinitely,” the LPL shared in a tweet, which we have placed below. “This decision is not one we take lightly, having weighed up all options and taking the welfare of our players and fans as our No.1 priority we are sadly left with little option but to postpone week 2 of the LPL until the situation poses less of a threat to everyone here in China.”
If you’re one of the people who has been underestimating the severity of the coronavirus outbreak, hopefully this is one of the breaking points that help illustrate how serious it really is. Riot postponing the League does more than just cut into their profits and slightly inconvenience fans, as it will likely have a ripple effect that affects all of the Chinese League of Legends scene for some time, at least as far as scheduling is concerned.
The World Health Organization, or WHO, recently announced that they wouldn’t declare the coronavirus a global health emergency. However, since then, the virus has hopped over into the United States and several other borders, including a few cases reported in Vietnam. Seeing that it’s spreading across the globe, it could very well be a global health emergency soon.
Once the virus is properly contained, the LPL and LDL will open up and resume at the second week as they were originally scheduled. Until then, stay safe and wash your hands!
