Valve
Cancels Next Minor and Major
The writing was on the wall. Last week, Valve and ESL announced that they would postpone the Los Angeles Major, originally scheduled to start today, March 15th. Before, and after, that announcement a myriad of other esports events havea been canceled. With two DPC tournaments set to take place during what, in the west, could very well be the peak of COVID-19 infection rates cancelation was definintely in the back of everyones mind.
Today Valve posted two tweets, acknowledging the problematic nature of holding an international tournament during a pandemic and officially announcing the cancelation of
OGA Dota PIT Minor 2020 and the EPICENTER Major.In the tweets, Valve also confirms that there is a possibility that the last Minor and Major of the season, both scheduled to take place in June, could be canceled.
While the possible cancelation of the June Minor and Major is only mentioned in passing, that could very well be the biggest part of the update. If the rest of this DPC season were to be canceled, teams like PSG.LGD, Newbee, OG and Team Nigma would be outside of the current top 12, meaning they would have to compete in their individual regions for the one spot. All four of those teams have a huge fanbase and are good enough to make it to the main tournament but without action from Valve, some of them could be forced to stay at home.
