Valve canceled most of it Dust 2 event, International, during an ongoing coronavirus epidemic. International 2020 was scheduled to be held at the Nokia Globe in Stockholm this summer. A new date has not been announced, but Valve expects the event will be delayed until 2021.
"In light of the rapidly changing nature of local gathering restrictions, virus routes, and global travel policies, we do not expect enough confidence to communicate with firm dates in the near future," Valve said in a blog post. "Right now, we are working on a DPC season rebuild, and we will be providing more details as soon as we have it."
International, held annually, is the biggest event in esports that is the only round of the Dota Pro Circuit. It's an event known for its grand prize pool – last year, in an effort to win back the crowd, the global prize pool surpassed $ 34 million. The lead group, OG, took home the grand prize of $ 15,609,384.
10 International is funded, with sales of Dust 2 War Pass. Players can purchase Battle Pass and unlock rewards and demands for the main event. Twenty-five percent of this year's Battle Pass will go into the International prize pool. Valve now presses back the release date for the pass; "With our team working from home and things that take a long time to complete, the release date of Battle Pass comes at least a few weeks before normal," Valve said.
World Health Organization announces a novel epidemic of coronavirus in March. There now there are over 3 million cases reported worldwide, and over 340,000 people have died. Large gatherings of people – like major esports events – you will probably be disappointed for some time.
Since the beginning of the epidemic, some esports events have been moved to the internet – frequency, small, regional events, where online communications and limited resilience are guaranteed. International events, in which players are scattered around the world, are canceled. On Thursday, Epic Games announced the cancellation of its main event, the Fortnite World Cup.
