KEEMSTAR and UMG Revolutionize Competitive Fortnite Scene With Friday Fortnite

As with the rise in popularity of any competitive multiplayer video game, Epic Games' Fortnite Battle Royale has seen a large section of its playerbase look to hone their skills to the very top and prove themselves to be the best very players of the popular battle royale title. Unfortunately, the lack of private lobbies or servers for Fortnite has made it difficult for the community to organize competitons that sees players and or teams compete against one another in a controlled environment. 

However, the passion of the competitive community for Fortnite has not let that stop them from innovating and creating formats that allow them to compete against one another. At the forefront of this innovation for fostering and creating something that the competitive community can rally behind and satisfy their hunger for watching high level and entertaining Fortnite has been YouTuber and DramaAlert Host Daniel "KEEMSTAR" KEEM and competitive gaming tournament platform UMG. 

Through the partnership of UMG and KEEMSTAR, the KEEMSTAR Friday Fortnite UMG Tournament was born, and the Fortnite community now has an established Tournament to look forward to watching weekly. 

Also want to give a shoutout to @UMGEvents for all the help with #FridayFortnite

Myself & the players are grateful for all the hard work y’all do.

— KEEM (@KEEMSTAR) June 21, 2018

Friday Fortnite Aligns the Stars

Utilizing his strong influence in the online entertainment world, KEEMSTAR has been able to assemble and organize 32 team brackets for seven weeks straight on the UMG platform that routinely sees 64 of the biggest personalities from Twitch and YouTube and professional Fortnite players compete to collect the most kills with a duos teammate over a two match span in a squads match with their opponent. 

From Twitch superstars, such as Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, Dr DisRespect, NICKMERCS, and professional Fortnite players, such as Ali "Myth" Kabbani, Hamlinz and Daequan of Team SoloMid and Turner "Tfue" Tenney and Dennis "Cloak" Lepore of FaZe Clan, to YouTube giants, such as Romanatwood, NoahJ456, Vikkstar123, and countless other competitors through the weeks, the KEEMSTAR Friday Fortnite UMG Tournament has brought together dozens of notable and impressive players in the gaming community together to compete for thousands of dollars on a weekly basis.

Not only has Friday Fortnite brought together stars from the gaming world, it has also invited celebrities from other entertainment industries to compete and be involved in the action, such as musicians lil Xan and lil Yachty in this past week's event.

The combination of the massive amount of star power displaying incredible Fortnite skill and adrenaline pumping action has led to the KEEMSTAR Friday Fortnite UMG Tournament attracting millions of unique viewers over its seven iterations across the indivdual streams of the competitors.

This @Ninja mini-montage from the first round of the $20,000 @KEEMSTAR Friday #Fortnite has us mind-blown with some of these plays. https://t.co/vnYIZq8dAE pic.twitter.com/x9cVo5ezJQ

— UMG Events (@UMGEvents) June 22, 2018

The Numbers Don't Lie

A clear example of the massive reach and interest that the KEEMSTAR Friday Fortnite UMG Tournament has created in the world of competitive Fortnite was a statistic provided in a report from Forbes that stated that Week 4 of the event organized by KEEMSTAR and UMG attracted 8.8 million viewers in comparision to AMC's zombie television series The Walking Dead, which only attracted over 8 million viewers in 6 of the show's 16 episodes last season. 

While some viewers may be counted twice due to watching multiple streams, an event not officially supported by the developer of Epic Games or having access to a dedicated mode designed for competitive play outperforming one of the most popular television shows in the past decade is downright impressive and shows that the community loves to watch their favorite players, content creators and other celebrities duke it out on the battlefield of Fortnite. 

With the success of the KEEMSTAR Friday Fortnite UMG Tournament, both KEEMSTAR and UMG have proven their dedication to improving and creating the absolute best environment for fans of the event to enjoy. 

Examples of the dedication and work that the two parties have put into Friday Fortnite include a prize pool that has increased from $5,000 to $20,000, UMG creating and producing a centralized stream that covers all of the action in one place, and the decision from KEEMSTAR and UMG to address concerns from viewers by having losers bracket matches played in the fast paced Blitz mode when it was available to help speed up the event.

Just as well, KEEMSTAR has worked to have certain automated Twitch bans removed and settled, such as one for Team SoloMid's Daequan and FaZe Clan's Avxry as a result of copyright strikes from the automated system of record label company Interscope for playing music from artist JuiceWRLD in order for them to be able to stream their Week 7 matches. KEEM has done the same for many other large Twitch streamers not involved with the event.

DMCA are retracted for @TSM_Daequan & @Avxry now waiting on @Twitch

Talked to interscope they said there automatic system hit big streamers by accident.

Other big streamers claims will be lifted later today. Had to rush on those two for #FridayFortnite that starts in 40 mins

— KEEM (@KEEMSTAR) June 22, 2018

Storylines Abundant

Friday Fortnite has also developed a stage for where the title's esports scene has begun to create engaging and entertaining storylines for fans to follow that will greatly aid it, as the competitive environment for the battle royale game continues to evolve. 

This storyline building started in the very first edition of the KEEMSTAR Friday Fortnite UMG Tournament. 100 Thieves content creator NICKMERCS was able to capture the very first Friday Fortnite Title with Luminosity Gaming streamer SypherPK, while playing on the PS4 when the rest of the bracket was competing on PC, thus showing the streamer's immense talent at the title.

Fans have also been treated to seeing historic performances throughout the lifespan of the event, such as Ninja's 23 kill game against FaZe Clan, Team SoloMid streamer HighDistortion breaking Ninja's tournament record with 24 kills, the FaZe Clan duo of Tfue and Cloak battling the duo of YouTubers Nick Eh 30 and ONE_shot_GURL in what resulted in the four players tying the PC Fortnite squads kill record with 53 eliminations,and 13 year old Team Secret professional player Mongraal and teammate Domentos securing the Week 6 championship.

This is the play that gave @HighDistortion the @KEEMSTAR Friday #Fortnite record of highest kills from a single player -- 24 total eliminations. https://t.co/vnYIZq8dAE pic.twitter.com/MRGsX0UWYb

— UMG Events (@UMGEvents) June 23, 2018

This event has also given FaZe Clan and Team SoloMid the opportunity to develop what many would consider to be the first esports rivalry in the title, as players from both organizations have battled in the later and championship rounds of Friday Fortnite on multiple occasions over the past seven weeks.

Fortnite's favorite competitive event has then allowed for the the FaZe Clan duo of Tfue and Cloak to claim the title of the first dynasty in the young life of the game's esports scene, as they have secured three out of the seven KEEMSTAR Friday Fortnite UMG Tournament Championships and are the only duo to have captured multiple titles.

UMG and KEEMSTAR have even developed what one may call an "amateur" scene for Friday Fortnite in the form of the KEEMSTAR Saturday Fortnite UMG Tournament. This event allows not as well known streamers, content creators and professional players of the Fortnite scene to compete for a $5,000 prize pool and a spot in the following Friday Fortnite Tournament. This has given the opportunity for the community to rally behind the Saturday Fortnite Champions and see if they can compete with some of the biggest names in the industry.

Listen to this.. @ShawnClaudeTV and @8Btendons

Won a @UMGEvents qualifier earning them a spot in today’s Sat Fortnite for smaller streamers.

&

Today they won sat Fortnite

Meaning these two are now in next weeks #FridayFortnite

Congrats!

— KEEM (@KEEMSTAR) June 24, 2018

The battle royale title still has a long way to go before it can stand up the giants of the esports industry, such as League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, Overwatch and other titles.

However, KEEMSTAR and UMG have created and shown an impressive and popular formula for organizing the competitive scene of the game that has taken over the world, and Epic Games would be wise to take some notes on the work done by the two parties behind Friday Fortnite for the implementation of the 2019 Fortnite World Cup and its $100,000,000 prize pool in that the stars of the game and community are what will drive its success in the ever expanding industry of esports.

(cover photo courtesy of KEEMSTAR)