The Philadelphia Fusion, the Comcast-owned Overwatch League team, just pulled out of their pre-season matches, citing "player logistics issues". The Fusion had been scheduled to play the debut match of the OWL pre-season against the Florida Mayhem tomorrow.
Dota 2 commentator Henrik "AdmiralBulldog" Ahnberg was tapped to provide live commentary for The International 7, one of the world's biggest annual esports tournaments. This year, TI7's prize pool climbed to a historic $US23 million ($29 million), the largest in esports history. Unfortunately, Ahnberg won't be at the event after being turned away at the United States border.
Player visas aren't typically something you'd think would be an issue in the world of video games. But it's becoming an increasing problem within esports, particularly when it comes to players from certain countries. After all, video games is their living -- but to the US government, that's not a legitimate career.
Riot Games and League of Legends got around this quirk by getting approval for P1 visas. But the wider esports community has been lobbying to have video games recognised more broadly so athlete visas can be issued to all types of professional gamers. And now, the White House will have to respond.
It's a regular story around esports that one team or another has been denied visas for entry into an international tournament. What you don't hear often is the news that a team was denied visas because they couldn't show they would have returned home.
