The Hearthstone Masters Tour Los Angeles, scheduled to be played offline later this month, now will be an online competition because of worries over the coronavirus.
Participants from more than 40 countries were expected in Los Angeles for the March 20-22 event to compete for more than $250,000 in prize money.
The event already had been relocated from Indonesia over concerns of the coronavirus, which began in China and now has sickened more than 100,000 and killed more than 3,400 people globally, according to The Associated Press.
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"We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this decision may cause," developer Blizzard Entertainment said in a statement. "We love this community, and moving to an online format for Masters Tour Los Angeles is for the health and safety of our players with so many of them traveling from so many different countries."
Upon further review of the coronavirus situation given the broad international nature of our event, we have made the decision to hold Masters Tour Los Angeles entirely online.
— Hearthstone Esports (@HSesports) March 6, 2020
More information can be found here: https://t.co/tznP5uaOZC
The developer said it will reimburse participants up to $1,500 for non-refundable travel costs they already had paid and asked players to take precautions as they book travel for future events.
The next offline Hearthstone event is set for Jonkoping, Sweden, in June.
"We are committed to providing a safe and competitive experience for Masters Tour players," the company said. "For players qualified for Masters Tour: Jonkoping and beyond, we advise booking flexible travel plans as well as obtaining travel insurance. We will continue to monitor the evolving coronavirus situation and will provide updates on future events at a later date."
Several other Blizzard games have also been affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
The Overwatch League has seen its homestands in China and South Korea go to the wayside as well. No plans have been announced for making up those matches yet. On Friday, the Call of Duty League, an Activision-Blizzard property, announced its Los Angeles homestand this weekend will continue as planned but that there will be additional precautions, including cancellation of meet-and-greets with players and on-site medical personnel.
-- Reuters and Field Level Media