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Counter-Strike: Global Offensive league Flashpoint announced match delays and the tournament’s transition into an online format. As COVID-19 (coronavirus) continues to wreak havoc around the world, the esports industry is taking a heavy hit. For a vast majority of organizations, the industry’s reliance on both domestic and international travel is a health risk.

According to Flashpoint’s official Twitter announcement, the organization decided to postpone all season 1 matches in order to transition to a LAN format. Participating teams will no longer stay in Los Angeles and will travel back to their respective homes. In order to uphold competitive integrity, the organization emphasizes they are “working diligently to ensure each team’s home site is suitable to maintain our standards.”

There’s no word as to when matches will be played again. Flashpoint says an outline with more details will go out when teams organize and get ready for competitive play.

Flashpoint following suit on health and safety

Flashpoint’s statement doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Last week, their league counterpart, ESL Pro League (EPL), reformatted season 11. In an effort to limit international travel, EPL has separated the global division into four regions, three being European and one North American.

Likewise, the Pro League finals have been relocated three separate times, first from Stockholm, then to Denver and finally to online. Four professional CSGO teams also resigned from EPL’s eleventh season. Instead of competing, the squads will head back home to their countries and prepare for next season.

Since the announcement, there haven’t been many opinions from the community. Replies poke fun at Duncan “Thorin” Shields, one of the founders of Flashpoint. In a now-deleted tweet, he boasted that his tournament was the “only LAN competition in esports.”

Thorin Flashpoint

Aside from that, it seems that fans are supportive and understanding of the league’s decision. Flashpoint kicked off this weekend, starting with teams organizing the competitive groups on Thursday. Friday brought the official first day of the competition’s broadcast and it was wildly successful. Matches taking place Sunday, March 15 attracted the league’s peak viewership with 61,269 concurrent views.

Stay tuned to Daily Esports for Flashpoint updates and more Counter-Strike: Global Offensive news.