CSGO Rio Major Cancelled

This news will likely not come as a shock to anyone, but the GSGO Major has been officially canceled due to Coronavirus. The esports event was originally planned to take place in May but was then rescheduled to November, due to concern over the global pandemic. At the time the event was pushed back to November, ESL was hoping that the pandemic would be over, or at least under control, and the event would be allowed to go ahead. They even doubled the prize pool to $2 million. However, their hopes did not materialize and there will now be no CSGO Major in 2020.

Although there was no official discussion of the event being canceled, the last update being in April, many in the industry predicted this was coming. The CSGO Major was set to be held in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, one of the countries hit hardest by Coronavirus. The news is disappointing, but with widespread disruption to travel and other prominent esports events already canceled, many CSGO fans were awaiting this announcement.

The announcement came on September 9, in a statement by ESL. The statement started, “Together with Valve, we had to make the tough but safe decision to cancel the ESL One Rio Major 2020 due to the ongoing disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. ”

What Next For CSGO Esports?

ESL and Valve said they will while they aren’t able to say when Majors can return, they will do everything possible to bring the next Major to Rio when possible.

However, this doesn’t mean you won’t get your CSGO esports fix! ESL has announced they will be hosting two online CSGO events, and one LAN event, before the end of the year. Of course, the LAN event will only go ahead if it’s safe to do so.

ESL will be hosting an online major, IEM New York, scheduled for next month. This online event has a $250,000 prize pool, with three online divisions competing for their share of the prize. There will be North American, European, and CIS Competitions.

After IEM New York is IEM Beijing Haiden, also featuring a $250,000 prize pool. This online event will have four divisions, Europe, Oceania, North America, and Asia.

Now for the LAN event. The Intel Extreme Masters Global Challenge 2020 is set to take place in Cologne, Germany, with a huge $500,00 prize pool. This event will see eight selected teams battling it out for their share of the prize. At present, the event is due to take place between December 15 and December 20, however, this will depend on how the pandemic is shaping up later in the year.