The Free Fire World Series (FFWS) 2021, which was scheduled to be held later in November in Mexico, has been canceled due to concerns regarding COVID-19.
In a statement sent to Dot Esports by email, Garena said the health and safety of everyone involved is its top priority. The decision to cancel the event was taken after considering all options to safeguard the health of the Free Fire community.
“The World Series stands as Free Fire’s largest and most exciting esports offline tournament,” Garena said. “The growing safety concerns, however, have made it challenging to provide players and fans both an enjoyable yet safe offline esports experience.”
Mexico is in the midst of a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, fueled by the delta variant of the virus. On Aug. 24, 21,250 new cases were detected in the country, according to Mexico’s health ministry.
Last year, the FFWS was canceled as well due to the pandemic. The event was replaced with the Free Fire Continental Series (FFCS), which was played online and had three separate regions, namely EMEA, Americas, and Asia. It’s unclear if something similar could happen this year as well. Dot Esports has reached out to Garena for a comment regarding this.
The Free Fire World Series, held twice a year, is the highest level of competition in the mobile game. Earlier this year, the FFWS was successfully conducted as an offline event in Singapore featuring 18 teams from around the world. Thai-team, Phoenix Force placed first and took the lion’s share of the $2 million prize pool.
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