• News

Soul Calibur & TEKKEN World Tour 2020 postponed due to Coronavirus issues

Both Final Round and Norcal Regionals have been removed as stops on both SCWT 2020 and TWT 2020 as Bandai Namco assesses the coronavirus situation.

TJ Denzer

March 6, 2020 7:44 AM

2

The Soul Calibur World Tour 2020 and TEKKEN World Tour 2020 are the latest gaming events to have been affected by issues regarding COVID-19, the coronavirus. Bandai Namco recently announced that both world tours will be postponed and a couple stops will be removed from the active tour as the organization assesses the situation and aims to keep its fans safe.

Bandai Namco Esports announced the postponement of Soul Calibur World Tour and TEKKEN World Tour 2020 and removal of events from the tour via Twitter on March 6, 2020. According to a statement released by Bandai Namco, both World Tours will be delayed as efforts to contain the coronavirus continue. As a result, upcoming events Final Round and Norcal Regionals, prominent stops for Soul Calibur and TEKKEN respectively, will be removed from the event list. Final Round and Norcal Regionals intend to go on anyways even in lieu of concerns, but it will be without Bandai Namco involvement or the presence of the World Tours. The Mixup, a stop in Lyons, France for both tours, has also been affected, but this event in particular will be rescheduled and new details are to be announced in the near future.

Please visit https://t.co/ijbwoioOUd and https://t.co/MVALgBJyil for more details. pic.twitter.com/J97QYdQb9A

— BANDAI NAMCO ESPORTS (@BNEesports) March 6, 2020

As has been the case of many cancelations and delays due to the COVID-19, Bandai Namco cites staff and player safety as the primary concern behind the delays of the TWT 2020 and SCWT 2020.

“The health and safety of tournament competitors, staff, and audience members is our top priority and this delay in holding official qualifying rounds will hopefully provide an opportunity for official tournament series qualifiers to take place later in the year,” Bandai Namco staff wrote.

It’s becoming a more and more common story with gaming events responding to the coronavirus. Recently, we saw IEM Katowice 2020 barring its audience from entering the arena, the Rocket League Championship Series World Championship Season 9 live event being canceled, and other gaming events like GDC 2020 being postponed in lieu of concerns over the epidemic.

It’s likely the right call, but the list of gaming events and competitions affected by COVID-19 continues to grow throughout 2020.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.