This is the first time for Rubik’s Brand not sponsoring a world championship, maybe back then they sponsored the Worlds because they want to keep it happening, and they actually had to sponsor it by themselves to make it happen, in spite of the fact that Rubik’s Brand’s target customers are non-cubers/new cubers rather than speed cubers. Now the Speedcubing community has grown by a lot, and is mature enough to at least have other brands which are not direct competitors to Rubik’s Brand being interested enough and are possible to sponsor the Worlds. With clock being removed after this comp, where clock had been the only event where Rubik’s Brand hardware is actually relevant to speedcubing scene for quite a while, I guess this is the end of an era and the beginning of another.