The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has led to an untold number of delays for games like Suda51's No More Heroes 3 and the cancelation of live events like E3 2020. Yesterday, the esports organization ESL and Valve announced the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major set to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil later this year is another casualty of safety concerns resulting from the pandemic.
Around the beginning of COVID-19's worldwide spread in March, ESL announced the Rio Major was postponed from May until November, combining the prize money for two events to make a $2,000,000 pool. The ESL said in a statement on its website yesterday that the "tough but safe decision" was made because development of the pandemic is "unpredictable," but there are still plans to eventually bring an event to Brasil, "Once a return for an in-arena Major is safe for everyone involved."
All tickets that have been purchased for the November event will still be valid for the new dates whenever they are announced, but there is also no cut-off for refunds if fans would prefer. However, the ESL cannot guarantee refunds on travel and hotel costs for anyone who was interested in going to the CS:GO event, and recommends fans try to cancel their bookings if possible.
In a statement released on the official CS:GO blog, Valve said it is going to hold off on scheduling all Majors until "at a minimum, Regional Major Ranking LAN events are safe to hold." That being said, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has had record concurrent player counts during the pandemic, and ESL Gaming confirmed there will still be online events held in October and November. Another live event in Germany is planned for December, but subject to change based on COVID-19 developments.
CS:GO has been a massively successful first-person shooter since it released in 2012, as evidenced by its ongoing tournament events and high player counts. Sparkles, one well-known YouTuber in the game's community, even recently spent about $15,000 to get a single rare weapon skin.
It is also believed that Valve has plans in the works for CS:GO to work with more modern tech. It is rumored that Valve will update Counter-Strike to its Source 2 engine in 2021, though this may cause issues with current community-made content. If the developer does so, it's a good sign that fans may continue seeing CS:GO tournaments for a long time to come.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is available now on PC.
Sources: ESL One Rio 2020, ESL Gaming, CS:GO