Coronavirus Outbreak Affects Esports Industry, Chinese League Postpones Matches Indefinitely

The novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China is dominating the news and social media internationally right now. Many businesses are already affected, even the e-sports industry in the region. The outbreak has gotten so bad that the Tencent League of Legends Pro League (LPL) has postponed its matches to avoid risks for its fans, staff and players.

According to the official LPL social media page, the competitive league has confirmed that it will postpone week 2 matches of the LPL to “ensure the safety and health of our players and fans.” The upcoming postponed games were supposed to be played throughout Feb. 5 to 9.

Many "League of Legends" fans have their eyes on the Chinese league as China was the winning region of the "League of Legends" world championships last 2019. Fans who want to see the champions and the China’s best would have to wait until the coronavirus outbreak has been squashed or contained successfully. The LPL is known to attract many fans into one area, and it’s a risk to be with crowds until the coronavirus outbreak is over.

The LPL has also left an open schedule to when the matches would resume. Fans will have to wait until further announcements to see when will it come back.

The outbreak has also urged other large, prominent businesses to take action for the safety of their customers and staff. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Disneyland amusement parks have also closed their gates this Jan. 26 until further notice due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The coronavirus outbreak currently has a death toll up to 52 and hundreds more are infected both in and outside of China, according to CNN.