Bandai Namco has announced the postponement of the Tokyo Tekken Masters tournament. The Japanese video game developer follows many other game studios and companies in the space in canceling existing events due to concerns over the coronavirus outbreak.
With a heavy heart we want to inform you that Tokyo Tekken Masters will be postponed until a later date due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns.
Stay tuned for updates as we continue to monitor the situation closely.
More details here: https://t.co/ahKm0XAQKi
— Bandai Namco Esports (@BNEesports) March 2, 2020
Tokyo Tekken Masters postponed
“Due to the highly dynamic nature surrounding the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak which has had global health implications, BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc. will take every possible consideration into account prior to rescheduling the Tokyo TEKKEN Masters Tournament,” wrote Bandai Namco Entertainment in a blog post. “Our goal and focus is to provide safe and healthy conditions for all of our tournaments to take place.”
Since the Tokyo Tekken Masters event will take place with a live tournament format, Bandai Namco has decided to postpone the event for the safety of its competitors, event staff, and audience members. This precaution is similar to what other game companies have done, such as Capcom with its removal of the Brussels Challenge 2020, Norcal Regionals 2020, and April Annihilation 2020 for the Capcom Pro Tour.
Increase of coronavirus concerns
The original event was scheduled for March 16 – 20, but it will now happen in the later parts of 2020. The Game Developers Conference was also recently pushed to an undetermined later date, after major game companies like Microsoft, Epic Games, Amazon, Sony, and Activision Blizzard pulled out. Many regular companies now require employees to stay home for 14 days if they have visited China. The fact that costs for public health products like face masks, hand sanitizers, and even hand soap have soared in price, even sometimes 10 times higher, shows that the disease’s outbreak is a much larger concern than before.
No details have been disclosed on the exact schedule for the postponed event. The status of any other upcoming esports events is dependent on the status of the coronavirus disease in the next few months as well.
