Another day in 2020, another event cancelation on the horizon, an inevitable loss of gatherings that simply adds to the tally that is far too long at this point to accurately sum up. It’s frankly unlikely that many were hoping for different news, as the primary opinion is that everything will continue to be canceled to help stymie the spread of COVID19 on an international scale. Still, it falls to unfortunate souls to help deliver the bad news that yet another event has been dropped.
Valve has taken to Twitter via DOTA 2’s official account to announce that the upcoming tournament that was to be the fourth Minor and Major competition has now been officially canceled. Queue the sad trombone, another event bites the dust.
After careful consideration of the current state and trajectory of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the health risk that this presents to competitors, staff and fans alike, we have made the difficult decision to cancel to the 4th minor and major tournaments of the DPC season.
— DOTA 2 (@DOTA2) March 15, 2020
The story, however, doesn’t necessarily stop there, as it continues on the back of a DOTA fans odd ally; Blizzard Entertainment.
The Overwatch League has recently announced that they’ve figured out a method to allow the games to continue, after previously announcing that they have unerringly canceled all matches for the months of both March and April. They have recently reneged on that statement, and the games are now going online in a regional format while being broadcast to fans on an international scale via YouTube Gaming Live. In order to do this, they’ve developed and competitively locked teams within their geographical region, meaning teams in Europe will play other European teams, and so on.
It would be a win/win out of a tough situation. Players could still play, talent could still work. Would allow Valve to "beta test" the league format without any pressure to make it perfect since everyone just desperately wants a solution. Everyone stays healthy and entertained
— Fin (@AlchemyElevated) March 15, 2020
It’s admittedly not the perfect solution; some teams that will be strong against every team, yet dominated by a close neighbor. Other divisions might be particularly weak, meaning that a team will end up in the finals without necessarily having the panache to pull it off, resulting in a train-wreck of a one-sided stomp. Still, it’s a far better solution than simply canceling a tournament in its entirety.
Players would at the very least continue to play, talent would still have incoming work in a difficult global time, and everyone gets to watch entertaining games as they attempt to forget, however temporarily, the current climate of the world. Many fans have taken to Twitter to petition Valve to adopt a similar format; while not flawless, it definitely has its merits.
Even more to the point is that if Blizzard, in its current form, can commit to continue the games for the pleasure of the citizens, than surely Valve could do the same. There has been no word yet from Valve in response to the requests.
