Coronavirus is not an obstacle for esports — how esport has changed because of the epidemy

Due to the coronavirus, the whole world is getting quarantined, educational and entertaining establishments are getting closed, and people have to stay at home. However, it is also advantageous, now people spend their time differently, they play computer games, watch serials, films, and, of course, esports tournaments.

How is esport winning because of the coronavirus?

At first esports also suffered because of the epidemy: some events had to be rescheduled or cancelled, organizers lost their money because of the ticket return, while viewers lost their time.

However, now the coronavirus is not a threat but a kind of help for the esports to become even more popular.

In regular sports, organizers have to cancel matches, in esports, they shift online.

Since many people stay at home because of the quarantine, esport has a great chance to extend its audience, especially, thanks to fans from other kinds (football, hockey, and others).

CS:GO

ESL Pro League Season 11

Initially, the event was planned to happen in Malta in the lan format, however, the coronavirus epidemy led to the organizers’ decision to hold the tournament online.

The event started in the middle of March and is going on till 12 April. 24 teams are participating in the tournament, so the matches are held almost every day, so viewers on the quarantine always have something to watch.

The event has been divided into two parallelly happening parts: Europe and North America. The total prize pool consists of approximately a million dollars (750 thousands in Europe and 220 in North America).

FLASHPOINT Season 1

This high level tournament has recently been shifted online. The tournament started on 13 March and will be happening till 19 April.

The organizers have realized the online format perfectly. The tournament is cast by English, Danish, Polish, Finnish and Russian commentators. Two matches are held every day on average for a month, so viewers always have something to watch.

#HomeSweetHome

This is a series of events announced by the GRID esport company. It will start on 31 March. Prize pools of each event are approximately equal to 40 thousands of dollars and all the series summarily has more than 300 thousand grabs.

The championship has been announced in order to solve esports problems with the coronavirus.

GRID claimed that they are actively collaborating with the organizers of other tournaments, so the viewers may not worry about the schedule issues. On 31 March, three online event will be happening parallelly, so there will be enough content for those who are currently quarantined.

Dota 2

Chinese DOTA2 Professional Association

It is a major online event that will be on tomorrow and end up on 19 April. It has a prize pool of 50 thousand dollars.

Ten Chinese teams will be invited to the tournament. They will please the audience with spectacular games every day.

ESL One Los Angeles 2020 — Online

At first, it was planned to hold the tournament of the major level. It must have taken place offline in Los Angeles and had a prize pool of one million dollars. The tournament was important for the esports Dota 2 stage since it offered the teams to fight for 15 thousand был Pro Circuit points forming the rating of teams for The International.

Due to the coronavirus epidemy, the tournament got cancelled, later the organizers decided to have an online league happening separately in five regions instead of the event.

The championship will be taking place from 28 March till 4 April and it will draw attention of all the Dota 2 fans as they will have a chance to see games of their favourite games from any region.

League of Legends

LPL 2020 Spring

This is one of the most popular events of League of Legends. It has been taking place since the beginning of 2020 года and will end up by the middle or the end of April.

The tournament has a prize pool of half a million dollars and is oriented to the Chinese esports stage. It is not as well broadcasted in the other world as other events, however, it still has several English speaking commentators and analysts.

LCK 2020 Spring

It is a popular Korean tournament that started at the beginning of February and is still taking place.

Viewers may see a game of the best Korean teams that are desperately fighting for a big prize pool and invites to the further events.

LEC 2020 Spring

The main European tournament that started at the end of January and is happening till the end of April.

League of Legends fans that are currently quarantined definitely have something to watch: 10 best European teams, more than 200 thousand grabs, high quality of streams and many Russian speaking commentators.