Photo : Noel Celis ( Getty )

Blizzard has tonight cancelled all Overwatch League matches scheduled to take place in China for the next two months due to the country’s Coronavirus crisis.




The company issued a short statement which reads:

We have decided to cancel our February and March matches in China in order to protect the health and safety of our players, fans, and staff. We hope fans have a safe and happy Lunar New Year, and we remain incredibly excited to play Overwatch league matches in China later this season. We’ll share more information about when and where the matches will take place at a later date. Thank you for your support and understanding!

Between February and March there were OWL matches scheduled in Shanghai, Foshan and Hangzhou. Several Chinese OWL teams have already moved their players to South Korea as a precautionary measure.




The cancellations have been made as the death toll for the viral outbreak approaches 200, with almost 8000 people now estimated to be infected (95% of them from the province of Hubei) and scores of foreign nationals hurriedly being evacuated from China.