Evaluating the State of Competitive Fortnite
From the Celebrity Pro-Am Tournament at E3 to the final week of the Fortnite Summer Skirmish Series, we are going to evaluate where Fortnite: Battle Royale stands in terms of being a competitive esport. In order to do this, first we must go over the short history of competitive Fortnite.
The first time we really saw all the Pro players and popular streamers get together for one tournament was when Daniel “KEEMSTAR” Keem partnered with UMG to put on what they called “Fortnite Friday’s”. The first Fortnite Friday tournament was held in early May of this year. The formula was simple, put together teams of pro players and streamers based on who was most popular and who pulled the most views, the overall skill level of the player was not what determined who was invited to participate. Since these tournaments were run by a third party, not Epic Games, private matches were not an option. Instead, teams of two would join each other's lobbies and then search public matches as a squad, competing based on which team of two could get the most kills. This ruleset led to fast-pace, exciting action because overall placement in the game did not matter, only kills. This style of tournament was well received by Fortnite fans but when Epic Games started hosting their own tournaments on Fridays, the “Fortnite Friday” tournaments were effectively canceled.
In early June, Epic Games hosted their “Fortnite Celebrity Pro-AM Tournament” at E3. This tournament was a massive success, becoming the most watched competitive gaming/esports event ever through western platforms (excludes Chinese viewers). Over 1.9 million fans tuned in to watch popular streamers team up with famous celebrities and compete for $3 million in prize money for charity. The success of this tournament sparked a huge debate over the competitive future of Fortnite. Could Fortnite be a competitive esport in the traditional sense? Or was it better off as a niche esport, similar to the WWE in that the focus would be on entertainment, not pure competition?
Fast forward to today, the final week of the Fortnite Summer Skirmish tournaments. This set of summer tournaments running 8 weeks and hosted by Epic Games has been controversial at best. The first week was a complete disaster, with the tournament being forced to end early due to unbearable lag experienced by the players amid a host of other problems. Epic has made improvements over the eight-week span but a common theme remains, fans are just not interested in watching. The reason? Epic has formatted the rules to put more emphasis on actually winning the game than on kills. This leads to the players all playing it extremely safe. Hiding in fortified bases, avoiding any combat, and doing whatever it takes to survive longer. This kind of play is slow and unentertaining for a majority of fans. Epic has tried to change the rules each week in an attempt to spice things up and find a “sweet spot” between competition and entertainment but have been largely unsuccessful. The result of all this has Fortnite fans wondering if Fortnite can succeed as an esport. Popular Youtuber “Ged” has said many times “Fortnite will never be an esport” and it appears others agree with him.
The very nature of Battle Royale games is not designed for competitive play in a traditional sense. Random weapon/item spawns, unsymmetrical maps, the fact you can "third party" a player/players that are already weak and/or in a fight, all this together makes it difficult to set up a fair and competitive tournament. PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, or PUBG, has faced the same issues in their attempt to become an esport. It will be interesting to see if Fortnite can overcome this and be a success as a Battle Royale esport.
