Copenhagen Games 2020 cancelled amid COVID-19 outbreak

Organisers of Copenhagen Games have announced their annual esports event has been cancelled amid the increasing fears and restrictions surrounding the coronavirus outbreak, which has reached most of Europe already.

The cancellation of the event, however, should not come off as a shock to anyone, considering Copenhagen games were in question ever since mid-March, when Denmark decided to close its borders to foreign visitors, prompting anyone who wanted to attend the event to cancel their tickets and look for refunds.

Copenhagen Games is an annual esports gaming festival, which was held in Copenhagen. The idea behind the event is to celebrate all kinds of esports and gamer community during Easter in Copenhagen. Featuring professional esports events across several titles, as well as arcade games, cosplay and meet and greets, Copenhagen Games were held in order to embrace all different aspects of gaming during the four-day festival.

Copenhagen Games 2020 were initially set to begin on April 8, featuring over 10,000 guests and eight esports tournaments across several esports titles, with US $100,000 in the prizepool.

Now, only two weeks before the scheduled start, the organisers have officially called off the event, marking the first time since its inception in 2010, that Copenhagen won't be held in a year. The organisers also announced that those, who already bought the tickets can receive full refunds on their official website.

"This is the first time Copenhagen Games has been cancelled since our start in 2010 and partners, players, crew, and everyone that has been preparing for the event are hurt by the necessity of this — not only financially, but emotionally," read the announcement by Copenhagen Games CEO Zahid Butt.

"I am very grateful for all your support in terms of being part of the event — without all of you, Copenhagen Games would not exist at all. I am sorry that we cannot go through with the event and sorry for any inconvenience that this is creating for you.

"But of course, this is a necessary step in the fight against COVID-19. Health comes first, even if we have to say goodbye to doing things we love. As an event organizer; we have a responsibility for the wellbeing of everyone at our event — be it guests, players, crew or partners. We fully support the decision by the Danish government to help flatten the curve and get us to the other side of this pandemic."

The official cancellation comes as a direct response to Danish government's ban of gatherings of more than 10 people – a precaution many other European countries already implemented in a bid to slow down the spread of COVID-19 spread amongst their citizens. While the ban was initially slated to be in place until the end of March, the government recently extended it until April 13 at the earliest, meaning Copenhagen Games 2020 were unable to go through anyway.

Last year's iteration of Copenhagen Games' CS:GO tournament, which is the most anticipated tournament of the event, was divided into three separate events Female, Secondary and Main Tournament.

Participating in the Female Tournament were 22 female CS:GO teams, who competed for the largest slice of 200,000 kr (≃ US $30,119). In the end, it was Counter Logic Gaming Red who pocketed the gold medal and 130,000 kr (≃ US $19,577), with Assassins as runners up and Dignitas Female and Besiktas Esports finishing third-fourth.

Participating in the Secondary Tournament were 16 smaller CS:GO teams, who competed for a significantly lower prizepool of 20,000 kr ($3,000). The champions of the event were AGF Esport, who were at the time led by a young Danish CS:GO pro Thomas "TMB" Bundsbæk, who was later in September 2019 signed by Copenhagen Flames.

The reigning champions of the Main Tournament are forZe, who defeated Sprout in the grand finals last year to pocket the title and mouth-watering 330,000 kr ($49,700) in tournament winnings.

Former CS:GO Copenhagen Games champions:

2010: mTW

2011: Frag eXecutors

2012: Fnatic

2013: Ninjas in Pyjamas

2014: Ninjas in Pyjamas

2015: Virtus.pro

2016: HellRaisers

2017: Team Singluarity

2018: The Imperial

2019: forZe