2020 was supposed to be a breakthrough year for the Overwatch League. However, the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak has dealt a blow to that plan, with league games in China and South Korea being canceled, and Paris Eternal today decided to cancel its scheduled home stand events in April.

Not surprisingly, the Overwatch League has now announced that it will cancel all live events scheduled for March and April.

"The health and safety of our employees, fans, players, teams and partners is a top priority for Activision Blizzard Esports. We continue to closely monitor COVID-19 (coronavirus), city-level recommendations and mandates, and all guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," the league said in a statement. After careful consideration and working closely with our teams, we are canceling all Overwatch League events scheduled for March and April."

"To be clear, we will be playing matches in March and April," Pete Brasterica, esports CEO of Activision Blizzard, stated on Twitter. 'We cancelled the event, not the matches. He also confirmed that all matches would be broadcast.

The Overwatch League was one of the first esports leagues to follow traditional sports, including city-based teams and home-and-away schedules, and the decision to cancel live events mirrors traditional sports competitions. Soccer's Europa League matches will be played behind closed doors or cancelled altogether, NCAA Championship events will be held with only "essential staff and limited family members" in attendance, and the World Figure Skating Championships, scheduled for March 18-22 in Montreal canceled today.

More are likely to follow in both traditional and esports sports. Just before the Overwatch League was cancelled, ESL announced that Pro League Season 11 (including the finals) would be entirely online.

Details of specific Overwatch League events will be provided by the teams. For now, there are no changes to Overwatch League events after the end of April.

For updates on all industry-related coronaviruses, you can follow along here; for more information on Covid-19 coronavirus, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control for North American updates, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, or the World Health Organization .