Our thanks to Martin for this. From the comments stream:
The overwhelming number of game players are male especially in the upper echelons there are practically no females. It is very competitive. So now we have to let women win to make them feel inclusive. Believe me if this were a women dominated event with no men it would not be an issue. I work in the tech industry and it’s bad enough when you have to force women to pull their weight because they lack the necessary skills, now the gaming industry is forcing futility upon us.
Another:
Women were invited and welcome to participate, they just make up such a minuscule % of video gamers and developers. This is like cancelling a beard contest due to lack of women participants or panelists.The real sexists are in USC admin.