Team Liquid marketing manager James ‘Kennigit’ Lampkin took to Reddit early this morning to tell fans that it is now “common belief” among eSports teams and organisations that this year’s IPL is “99.999% not happening”.
While Lampkin was quick to state that he had no official confirmation from IGN, the manager claimed that “pretty much every team and news group is either holding off on booking travel or changing their plans”.
“We don’t have confirmation from IGN that IPL6 is cancelled… but we all have REALLY good sources/’confirmation’ outside of IGN that it’s either cancelled or postponed,” he wrote on the StarCraft subreddit.
“I think it’s public enough at a ‘everyone in the know’ level that there’s a responsibility to let fans know: ‘Check how much advance you have to give to a hotel to cancel’ or ‘Can I re-book this flight’ IF it is cancelled/postponed. Teams can eat the costs if things are going where we think they may be going.”
Later, Lampkin added that he had “talked to a few people close to the issue”: “Their advice was that if you are considering cancelling/changing your plans, that it’s probably a really really good option to consider,” he said.
“Again, not 100% and i don’t have confirmation from IGN.”
IPL has lately become the largest event in the North American eSports calendar, featuring key events in both StarCraft 2 and League of Legends. Its owner IGN, however, was last month sold to former 1up publisher Ziff Davis. Ziff haven’t yet publicised their plans for the tournament.
IGN did not return our requests for comment.