Epic Games has cancelled the 2020 Fortnite World Cup, which was set to take place in July.

As announced on Twitter (below), the reason for the cancellation is the coronavirus pandemic, which means that the event cannot take place in person. Epic has said that there are limitations that stop a competition like this taking place online and across multiple regions.

"We don't know when a return to large, global, in-person events will be practical, but we're hoping to be able to put on some form of Fortnite World Cup in 2021," Epic said.

"In the meantime, we have more info about online events with FNCS, Cash Cups, 3rd Party Events and Broadcasts."

Not all is lost

The first Fortnite World Cup took place in 2019, with $30 million doled out in prize money – the most of any esports to date.

All physical Fortnite competitive events have been moved to a digital format for the rest of the year. Last month, the American firm announced that a Fortnite Champion Series Invitational would take place on May 9th.

"FCNS will be returning each season for the rest of 2020. Players around the globe will have the opportunity to prove they're the best," said Fortnite's competitive team.

"We will iterate on formats to improve player experiences."

Epic has confirmed that it is still working with third parties to host various Fortnite events. However, all of them must be online only.

"We continue to work with 3rd parties to provide more experiences for players," said Fortnite's competitive team.

Physical Events - For the rest of 2020, all Fortnite competitions will be held online. Due to the limitations of cross region online competition, there will not be a Fortnite World Cup in 2020.

— Fortnite Competitive (@FNCompetitive) April 30, 2020

This story first appeared on PCGamesInsider.biz