The Rocket League Championship Series 9 / RLCS9 World Championships that were to take place in Dallas, Texas in April is the latest event to be canceled due to the threatening coronavirus epidemic. Originally taking place on the weekend of April 24-26, 12 teams from four continents were to play for the title of RLCS World Champion. Now it unclear when or if the replacement tournament will be played.
RLCS9 continues online
Despite the LAN cancellation, the current RLCS and RLRS (Rocket League Rival Series) seasons will continue online up to and including the regional championships. The broadcast talent, however, will remain at home and cast from there, as the announcement states the following:
“As the health and wellbeing of our broadcast talent is also of utmost importance, we’ll be moving the broadcast completely online for the remainder of the season beginning this week. You’ll still be able to watch RLCS and Rival Series matches Friday, Saturday, and Sunday as usual, but the broadcast talent will not be in-studio.”
Those that already bought tickets to the RLCS9 World Championships will be given a full refund, including possible parking tickets they might have purchased, and will be getting the in-game wheels rewards for attending the event emailed to them. Of course, the fans that have booked their flights already will likely have more trouble getting their money back.
Psyonix intends to give another update when they have more information on the RLCS World Championships, but one can hope it is only postponed and will not be moved to an online environment or, worse, canceled entirely. Until then, we’ll get to watch almost as usual, with casters at home and a catch-up stream happening on Monday, March 9 due to the delays on matchday 1.
The decision to cancel the RLCS is not unexpected after a series of canceled international events across the world. With only a month to go until the world championships and no vaccine in sight, the virus is expected to spread even more, and Psyonix should be applauded for making a tough but brave decision that keeps in mind the health and safety of their personnel and fans alike.
