The popular battle royale game had recently kicked off its fourth season of content, reworking a number of weapons and shaking up the character tier list, but has hit a snag in the competitive scene as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

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EA had previously announced that the Apex Legends Global Series, the first Global Series event for the game, is being postponed. The event was scheduled to start this weekend at the Esports Stadium in Arlington, with a $500,000 prize pool available to players. This latest announcement makes clear that all live events run as part of EA’s competitive gaming scene are postponed until further notice. The postponement not only affects Apex Legends, but also the company’s stalwart FIFA and Madden franchises.

In the official announcement, EA says “our priority is protecting our competitors, our employees, our partner’s employees and our communities.” The company will use this time to monitor the situation and determine the best course of action, and will be adhering to recommendations from health officials. This statement echoes the sentiments of other companies, such as the announcement from Activision Blizzard regarding its Call of Duty League.

While there is never a good time for a pandemic, and all precautionary measures to fight it should be taken, for Apex Legends the timing is quite unfortunate. Having installed a solid player base over the last year, the game was just starting to ramp up its presence on the eSports scene.

The Global Series is set to offer competitive play and high prize pools for players, but it will have to wait to get off the ground. With this much risk to player and event staff health, and nearly every other franchise postponing or cancelling events, this just isn’t the right time to bring people from across the globe together in a confined space.

EA Sports has not offered a timetable for when the Apex Legends Global Series will return, but the company is looking forward to a return “when the time is right.”

Apex Legends is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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Source: EA