The Pokémon Company announced on Friday that it would postpone the Pokémon Europe International Championships, citing health officials' recommendations due to rising concerns about the rise in cases of the coronavirus. The championships were for Berlin on April 17-19.
The Pokémon Company didn't rule out future postponements but did say that current plans for the North America International Championships on June 26-28 in Columbus, Ohio, and the world championship Aug. 14-16 in London remain the same for now.
"For the events directly organized by The Pokémon Company International, we examine each event on a case-by-case basis, informed by the latest updates issued by appropriate government and World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations," the company said in a statement. "Currently, there are no plans to postpone or cancel the 2020 Pokémon North America International Championships or 2020 Pokémon World Championships."
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Like similar esports events that have been impacted by the spread of the virus, the Pokémon Company stated it would be forgoing player handshakes during matches, make sanitizer readily available and sanitize and clean surfaces in between matches in their LAN events.
The 2020 Pokémon Europe International Championships are the latest in an ever-growing list of esports and gaming events impacted by COVID-19. On the same day, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament organizer FLASHPOINT cancelled an April playoff event in Stockholm, Sweden, citing travel concerns.
There have been over 100,000 cases and 3,400 deaths related to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to The Associated Press. Most have been centered in China's Hubei Province and the city of Wuhan, where the virus was first discovered.