With the introduction of Fortnite’s Chapter 3 and the quick patches, it sounds like the folks over at Epic Games have had their hands full. The competitive team indicated that their staff will be taking a much-needed break soon. So don’t expect a Winter Royale for the holidays.
NEW COMPETITIVE FORMATS
The Fortnite competitive team announced the new FNCS Match Point format for Finals during their Hype Hour – right before the Chapter 2 Season 8 FNCS Finals. They reiterated that this format is only meant to come into play in rare occurrences in which a team has achieved multiple Victory Royales and met a high point threshold. They still expect many regions to complete the FNCS Finals in its full 12-game length. They are not committed to the final point thresholds yet, but they will have this ready by the end of January.
BEST-OF FORMAT
Fortnite has been improving its tournament operations tools to work towards new tournament formats. They shared some early details for one of the first of these new tournament formats that they intend to release this year: the Best-of Format.
Under the Best-of Format, a player’s best games from a given set would be counted towards an individual or team score. For example, if you have three hours to compete in up to 10 total matches, this format could be used to only count the best seven matches out of the possible 10. They intend to introduce this format in the right way in 2022.
FNCS SEMI-FINALS FORMAT (RECAP)
The competitive Fortnite team also clarified questions surrounding the process of qualifying from the FNCS Semi-Finals as follows:
The FNCS Semi-Finals will be a single lobby – the top 50 teams on the Regional FNCS Series Leaderboard to start. After each session, the vacant spots will be filled with the teams next up on the Series Leaderboard. To make it past the FNCS Semi-Finals, teams need to either win a single match during any of the three-session periods or be one of the top consistent teams across one single session. They are currently planning Sessions 1 and 2 to consist of 5 games each and Session 3 will be 6 games.
INCREASED INTEGRITY FOR 2022
In 2022, Fortnite will be increasing tournament integrity by reevaluating rulings for all official competitive violations. Their rules, their competitors, and the competitive scene have been established long enough for them to feel comfortable increasing the sanctions for rule violations. Continue to play fair and abide by the rules to avoid any action against your account. Additionally, all tournaments will now require a minimum account level of 50 (previously 30) to participate. Premiere tournaments such as FNCS will also require an even higher minimum account level of 100.
DECEMBER 2021 TOURNAMENT BREAK
The normal competitive reevaluation period coupled with the timing of the new Fortnite Chapter (new weapons, Island, and new engine with Unreal Engine 5), on top of the much-needed Holiday time off for players and employees did not allow them to squeeze in any additional competitions in December. There’s still plenty more coming in 2022 that will be announced at a later date. Their regular tournament offerings will begin in early January.
