Unterföhring, near Munich, based TV-channel ProSieben MAXX has pulled the ELeague Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament out of its program following the shooting in Munich which took place July 22. 99damage.de reported on Wednesday, July 27, 2016. GermanyFreaks 4U, a marketing agency involved in the setup and promotion of ELeague’s German broadcasts, offered the following statement to German gaming site 99Damage.de:

“Today, ELeague’s show has been canceled and the TV channel won’t show its last episode. I think it’s sad that such an event takes away the chance to show every non-esports fan how awesome this sport can be. It was a beautiful journey to represent the German esports scene [on] TV and I am thankful to every single viewer, especially those who worked closely with us to give feedback.”

ESPN.co.uk on the subject:

The channel was originally set to broadcast ELeague's semifinals and finals on Friday and Saturday this week, which will include German national team mousesports. However, due to the shootings in Munich on July 22, those at the television station decided to pull ELeague off air this week.

Fear of violent video games encouraging harm is not new to Germany. In 2011, Germany banned graphic fighting game Mortal Kombat due to the gore and violence depicted in the game. Counter-Strike has not run into this issue until now, and is one of the more popular first-person shooters in Europe.

Counter-Strike is a series of multiplayer first-person shooter video games, in which teams of terrorists and counter-terrorists battle to, respectively, perpetrate an act of terror and prevent it. The shooter who killed 9 people and injured over 20 was reportedly a Counter-Strike player.