ESL UK have stated that there will be no LAN finals for this seasons EPS finals.

I will quote the ESL website directly, as this best describes the outcome. However the twist of the post is that the finals will be held online rather than at LAN and the reasons are given for this decision.

There is no easy way to say this so we will keep it short and to the point - this season's finals will be held online.

We are working together with ESL TV to provide the best coverage possible over the coming weeks. Teams and players will be contacted soon via protest tickets about when their matches will be played.

Concerning the reasons, there are several contributing factors that have led us to decide to have online finals this season.

We are now reaching a point in our commitment to the UK where we are forced to rethink our strategy, taking into account the support the community has given us so far both online and offline.

Over the past two years ESL UK and its partners have supported the UK & Ireland with over £90,000 in prize money, hardware prizes and travel expenses for British & Irish players, teams and on some occasions even visitors to attend our events.

Season 1

Finals

Season 2

iFNG London #1 iFNG London #2 Finals

Season 3

Gadget Show Live MCM Expo

We have brought a league structure to the UK & Ireland that provides all players and teams a fair chance to rise through commitment and dedication, from ladders to the ESL Amateur Series to the ESL Pro Series, and then on to the Intel Extreme Masters and ESL Major Series. We have also increased our commitment to our national teams in the European Nations Championship.

Response from the community

Unfortunately all of our continuous efforts have not been met with equal enthusiasm from the wider community. Sign ups across all games have been disappointing, and many of those that do sign up then do not show up to their matches, showing an extreme lack of respect for their opponent.

Where there used to be positive and constructive comments and fan-boyism in match and news comments, there is mostly deconstructive flaming of each other.

Season 4: In your hands

As negative as this sounds, Season 4 is still planned for the second half of this year, but the amount of prize money and number of offline events depends heavily on the response from the community over the next couple of months.

We appreciate the support that many of you have given us so far and we hope we can count on you for the next couple of months as well. If you have any ideas or suggestions for how we can work together to benefit the UK then don't hesitate to contact us.

As you can see, this is unfortunate news, however ESL have left it up to us to sort it out. Therefore, I am looking forward to EPS UK Season 4.