You can finally show off your world-class Fortnite skills without having to abandon your day job. Epic Games is introducing in-game tournaments to its battle royale megahit. This new feature enables players to join open, multihour competitions. And this is yet another feature to set Fortnite apart from competitors. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout (BOBO), and other similar games do not have a mode like this.
In-game tournaments launch tomorrow, October 16, in an alpha phase. This first set of tournaments is just for solo players — no duos or squads. Duo tournaments run October 23 through October 25. Squads kick off October 19 and run through November 30.
Over the course of several last-player-standing matches, players will try to finish with the top score. You get points by killing opponents and outlasting everyone else.
According to Epic, players will fight for bragging rights and more. Epic did not specify the exact nature of the prizes.
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“In-Game Tournaments are open to everyone and provide an opportunity for every player to compete directly alongside the pros for prizes and glory,” reads a Fortnite epsorts team blog post. “Note that all players must opt-in for crossplay to participate in competitive events.”
So mouse-and-keyboard, controller, and smartphone players compete against each other.
What keyboard-and-mouse advantage?
If you’re like me, maybe you’re hung up on the idea of cross-play tournaments. But Epic is adamant about this.
“During tournaments, players from all platforms will compete against one another as equals, regardless of if they are on a mouse, controller, or touch input device,” reads the Fortnite blog. “Every player will participate in the same competitions from start to finish, with equal opportunity to rise above the competition.”
The studio says that it has seen competent gamepad players compete against the top keyboard-and-mouse players. It pointed to console players NickMercs, KamoLRF, and AmarCoD as examples of high-quality controller play. The implication is that if they can keep up with keyboard-and-mouse, so can you.
But it also doesn’t want to split players up because they are using different inputs.
“Combining everyone into a single competition will allow for players to compete with their friends regardless of platforms,” reads the blog post. “And it will allow us to place a single shining spotlight onto the world’s best players, increasing prize pools and player exposure from our competitions.”
Also, I hope Epic tells us the first time a mobile player wins a tournament so we can shame everyone else in that competition.
