Coronavirus worries are starting to impact the gaming industry

Concerns over the rampant spreading of COVID-19, better known as the coronavirus, have forced gaming companies to rethink their schedule of events.

The gaming industry is starting to feel the effects of the coronavirus. Over the past few weeks, several notable companies have canceled events out of fear of the virus spreading.

We’ve seen several eSports leagues reschedule tournaments and, most recently, Sony pulled out of PAX East, where they were expected to provide a one-hour hands-on demo of The Last of Us Part II for show attendees. Sony also recently confirmed to GamesIndustry that it will not be attending Game Developers Conference (GDC) in March. It’s unclear if the coronavirus has had any impact on Sony’s plans for revealing the PlayStation 5, which launches later this year.

In the world of eSports, Blizzard announced that it is canceling its Overwatch League matches in South Korea “in order to protect the health and safety of our players, fans and staff.” South Korea was supposed to play host to matches for Weeks 5-7 and serve as the Seoul Dynasty home event.

In order to protect the health & safety of our players, fans, & staff, we are canceling plans to host #OWL2020 matches in South Korea in Weeks 5, 6, and 7, including the @SeoulDynasty home event.

We’ll share more info about when and where matches will take place at a later.
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) February 24, 2020

The announcement comes just shortly after Blizzard moved Overwatch League games from China — which were set to take place in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hangzhou — to a studio in Seoul. It’s unclear where these matches will take place now.