The havoc of the pandemic has reared its head once again, resulting in the cancellation of IEM China 2022.
Even though millions of CSGO fans were hoping to witness one of the most interesting tournaments in China, it looks like it will not happen. According to official ESL information, the company will not host the IEM tournament in China.
Why won’t ESL host IEM China?
China is one of the big regions for any sport, and CSGO is no exception. ESL was supposed to host the IEM this year, but the company decided to cancel the event due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Even though China was one of the first countries to “recover” from the pandemic in 2020, it seems to be battling it again.
Before the COVID situation, ESL regularly hosted the event. In fact, the last edition was IEM Beijing, which took place in 2019. There were many top tier teams then, but Astralis was better than the rest and won the trophy.
IEM China should have happened this December, and would have featured some of the best teams in the world. However, ESL’s decisions mean that Asian fans will not be able to watch the event in real time.
What will happen next?
In light of the ongoing COVID-19 situation and the complexities of hosting an international competition in China, we have decided not to host the planned #IEM Tournament there later this year. We will continue to monitor developments in the region after 2023+. pic.twitter.com/sWS2KGGHHBF
— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 9, 2022
We have yet to see what will happen with this IEM as ESL has not released any news yet. The Asian region is certainly overlooked in CSGO, but pandemic problems do not allow the region to host some large events.
Speaking of the tournament, ESL’s profile on Twitter also announced that there will be changes in the EPL Conference Season 17. Although the event was supposed to take place from November 23 to November 27, the organizers decided to move it. As a result, we will have a chance to see it in 2023.
ESL has pushed the event due to the BLAST Premier Fall Final, which will be held during the days mentioned above. Needless to say, no one wants to have overlapping CSGO tournaments, which is why ESL took the right decision.
Don’t forget to visit our epic CSGO betting guide as you can learn a lot of important things about the game. This information will also help you once the CSGO program starts because you will know what to expect.
