In an update that shouldn’t really be surprising by now when it comes to live events, Capcom announced that it’s decided to cancel this year’s Capcom Cup. The event was previously set to take place on February 19th where top-tier competitors would compete in the Street Fighter League World Championship followed by more events leading up to the Capcom Cup Grand Finals on February 21st. In place of the traditional Capcom Cup, the publisher and event organizer said it’ll have an online event featuring top players with more details on that to come soon.
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The decision to cancel the event was announced on the Capcom Pro Tour site as well as through the Capcom Fighters social media channels. Echoing the reasonings of many other organizers who’ve elected to cancel events throughout 2020, Capcom attributed the decision “to the rising cases of COVID-19 worldwide.” The publisher said it’s confident it could have pulled off a safe and successful event but has since reevaluated as the situation changed.
Due to the rising cases of COVID-19 worldwide we have made the difficult decision to cancel #CapcomCup. In its place we will be producing an online season final for #CapcomProTour February 20th and 21st. Details following: pic.twitter.com/3WsObiSFVA
— Capcom Fighters (@CapcomFighters) January 15, 2021
Also similar to how many other events have handled things in the wake of cancellations after cancellations, an online event will take the place of the Capcom Cup. It of course won’t be the same as seeing players compete in person and on a big stage, but Capcom said the “community deserves a platform to celebrate their persistence in a challenging year.”
“In its place we will be producing an online only Season Final so that we are still able to highlight the best players from this season,” Capcom announced. “All players that won an online premier will be invited to participate in the final and we are in the process of reaching out to all eligible players to secure their participation. Details on the revised format will be available on CapcomProTour.com in the next few weeks.”
Prior to the cancellation, Capcom had laid out a set of guidelines for navigating such an event during the pandemic that included contact tracing and restrictions placed on anyone who had a positive COVID-19 test while attending the event. Competitors would’ve been distanced from one another with designated, individual practice stations. No spectators would’ve been allowed at the event nor were fans to be allowed within the venue.
More info on Capcom’s online event should be shared in the coming weeks.
