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David Katz, 24, who lost a Madden football video game tournament
at the GLHF Game Bar in downtown Jacksonville, Florida, opened
fire on other competitors, killing Elijah Clayton, 22, and
Taylor Robertson, 27.
"They were respected, positive and skilled competitors, the
epitome of the players and personalities at the heart of our
community," Andrew Wilson, CEO of Electronic Arts (EA), said of
the two victims in a statement released early on Tuesday.
Wilson said in the aftermath of the shooting the company had
canceled the three remaining qualifying events for the Madden
NFL 19 Classic, the first of four major competitions of the
season for the video game.
The cancellations are in order to "run a comprehensive review of
safety protocols for competitors and spectators," he said.
The incident was the latest in a series of high-profile
shootings in Florida. A gunman killed 17 students and educators
at a high school in February and another killed 49 people at an
Orlando nightclub in 2016.
"We've all been deeply affected by what took place in
Jacksonville," Wilson said. "This is the first time we've had to
confront something like this as an organization, and I believe
this first time our gaming community has dealt with a tragedy of
this nature."
The killings rocked the world of professional video game
tournaments, also known as esports, which boasts an estimated
250 million players worldwide in a growing market worth about a
billion dollars a year.
The EA Sports division of Electronic Arts makes Madden NFL 19, a
video game that depicts National Football League competition.
Gamers compete against one another by controlling all facets of
team during a contest.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Peter
Graff)
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