CORONAVIRUS WEEKLY ROUNDUP 3/28/2020

Rather than inundate you with daily posts about each event and game impacted by the Coronavirus epidemic, we’ve instead rounded up the stories into a single post. This way you don’t have to reflect daily on the difficulties created for the world by the spread of this virus. Without further ado, let’s take a look at everything that’s happened this week.

LCS Spring Finals moved online

Riot Games recently made the decision to move the 2020 LCS Spring Finals online. The event will still take place on Saturday and Sunday, April 18-19. But rather than happening in its original venue in Texas, it’ll move to Riot’s studios in Los Angeles.

Sony throttling PS network downloads in Europe

Now that many are stuck at home and using the internet with more frequency as they practice social distancing, Sony is taking some measures. To help ISPs tackle network jams and ease the load, Sony network is slowing down download speeds.

In a blog post on PlayStation.com, Sony president and CEO Jim Ruan said, “We believe it is important to do our part to address internet stability concerns as an unprecedented number of people are practicing social distancing and are becoming more reliant on internet access. Players may experience somewhat slower or delayed game downloads but will still enjoy robust gameplay.”

Many other services are likewise throttling speeds. Microsoft is likely to cap its own speeds for Xbox Live services. Other media providers like Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, Amazon Prime, etc. have limited video quality to 480p.

Riot & co-founders donate $1.5 million to Coronavirus relief efforts

Los Angeles Mayo Eric Garcetti recently made the announcement that Riot Games has donated $1.5 million to local nonprofits and to the mayor’s relief fund. This was done to assist in the Coronavirus relief effort throughout California. Riot contributed $500,000, whereas co-founders Marc Merill and Brandon Beck donated $500,000 each, for a total of $1.5 million.

The donations will be split between the Los Angels Food Bank ($400,000) and the mayor’s funds to support the Coronavirus relief ($200,000). The remaining $900,000 will then be donated to local nonprofits.

Nintendo donates respirator masks to American fire and rescue

Nintendo is attempting to do its share to help amidst the Coronavirus pandemic. Beyond providing the population with a nice distraction in the form of Animal Crossing, Nintendo donated 9,500 N95 Particulate Respirator masks to the Eastside Fire & Rescue (EF&R) in North Bend, Washington. These are among the most-requested items first responders and healthcare providers ask for during this pandemic. The city of North Bend had this thank you to say: “The communities served by the City of North Bend and Eastside Fire & Rescue deeply appreciate the generous donation from Nintendo.”

Lockdown tourney held to keep gamers indoor

To assist in the effort of keeping people indoors and socially distanced, a group of Filipino esports enthusiasts have organized a “lockdown” Dota 2 tournament. The event has a prize pool of some P50,000 at stake for the winning players. South.gg opened applications for the tournament, which is titled “Lockdown.” Applications are open for submission until Friday, March 27. Said the group of the tournament, “Let us prove that humanity is more contagious than this pandemic. As a community of gamers let us show we can influence others to stay at home and enjoy some games with friends.”

The event seeks to pool in 64 players with a single-elimination round. Though no names have been released yet regarding applicants, they hope to attract some big names in the esports industry. The semi-finals will be a best-of-three series, and finals a best-of-five matchup. The tournament will run from March 28 to April 3.

Nintendo shuts down repair centers

To comply with “federal and local guidelines” regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, Nintendo of America has closed its repair service centers “until further notice.” There is no definite time for when the centers will re-open, but they plan to update their support page when the time comes. Anyone that sends their devices in now will see them returned to the sender due to no one being able to receive packages. So keep hold of your device or find another repair option.

That’s just a few of the Coronavirus stories that have occurred this week. Stay home and stay safe during this contagious period!

Ryan Goodrich

Ryan has been writing since long before he could even write. He's written resumes, software user guides, consumer electronic reviews, and myriad web content spanning a variety of industries. But now he's writing about video games, which is much more interesting.

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