Some disappointing news has hit the Middle Eastern fighting game community recently: the United Arab Emirates’ GAMES 16 convention has been cancelled, and along with it the Capcom Pro Tour ranking tournament that was set to take place during the event.

Originally set to take place from September 22 to 24, the event was cancelled supposedly due to conflicts with the release schedule of certain titles. As such, the organizers behind the event did not feel that they would have been able to deliver the quality that they had promised and as such, are postponing the event to next year.

The cancellation is a great blow for competitive Street Fighter V players in the Middle East, especially since the cancellation has nothing to do with the game or the tour. In addition to this, it also means that the European regional division of the CPT, which the GAMES 16 tournament was to be part of, is down one event. How this will affect the point spread and whether or not another tournament will take its place is as yet unknown.

The full statement from the GAMES 16 staff, including instructions on how to get refunds on tickets, can be found below.

Some sad news today as we’ve unfortunately had to make the decision to postpone GAMES Middle East 2016! The new game release schedule has worked against us unfortunately and despite having some great guests, exhibitors, tournaments and activities lined up, we wouldn’t be delivering the event experience we want for the fans or our partners and are already looking forward to exceeding expectations next year! We’re hard at work on the next event in our calendar and will be working towards next year’s GAMES Middle East to make sure we can celebrate our love of gaming together in style! Those who have already purchased tickets will be contacted by Virgin Tickets for refunds and next steps and you can always reach out to the virgin team on: tickets@virginmegastore.me Thank you as always for your support and for helping us continue to build entertainment and pop culture communities in the Middle East.GAMES 16

Source: GAMES Middle East