Just when things were starting to seem like they were improving, COVID-19 has claimed another form of social gathering in 2020. Bandai Namco has announced that they will no longer be supporting eSport events for Tekken, Soulcalibur, nor DragonBall FighterZ World Tours for the rest of the year. However, they are not fully pulling out of the competition aspect.
This official support cancellation only applies to physical events and they are finalizing online competition event solutions for the remainder of the year and aim to have more news to share soon. During this time, they also state that individual tournament organizers may still set up events with their titles. Even so, they urge competitors and fans to seek tournament details through event websites and to use their best judgement regarding their personal on-site participation.
2020 has been a rough year and the world is definitely starting to see the light end of this dark tunnel, but we still have a rocky road to face. Awareness and care from all parties is what can keep up moving forward and is why Bandai Namco has made this difficult decision. It isn’t the one we wanted, but it may be the one we need. At least we can look forward to what they have to offer when it comes to online tournaments.
