It happened again, the coronavirus has found its next event victim as the Intel World Open will be rescheduled for 2021.
Since it was bound with the already postponed Summer Olympics, which were also scheduled to take place in Tokyo in 2020, the gaming event Intel World Open has now been postponed - both to 2021. Esports fans will have to be patient until they can admire the big event.
The Intel World Open was to provide a massive stage for both Rocket League and Street Fighter V, with qualifying matches originally planned for May 2. The $500,000 prize pool, which was to be divided equally between the two titles, would have brought together some of the best players and teams. Intel has now officially announced that the event is getting postponed to 2021:
An update regarding the Intel World Openhttps://t.co/fApSV1kb4s pic.twitter.com/A8eYGB0e1q
— Intel Gaming (@IntelGaming) April 8, 2020
The official website of the Intel World Open received an update:
Due to the evolving global situation around COVID-19 and the postponement of the Olympic Games, the Intel World Open, and the planned May 2 online qualifiers, have been postponed until next year. though we were excited to witness the best Street Fighter V and Rocket League players, we must focus on the health and safety of the community firstWe will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates as quickly as we can. While we will have to make adjustments to ensure everyone’s safety, we are committed to bringing Intel World Open to life.
This delay means that the national and regional qualifying matches will probably be postponed until May 2021. The live qualifier tournament and the finals in Tokyo will then probably be linked back to the Olympic Games. The two events being directly connected то each other prevents the IWO from going completely online. Something we've seen numerous other titles do. Until we get another update on either the Olympics and the Intel World Open, we look forward to more and more online events, such as the Dota 2 BTS Pro Series and DreamHack Masters Spring.
