Fortnite Tournament System Officially Announced For In-Game Competitions

Last week we reported that an in-game tournament mode for Fortnite had been leaked early by Epic Games. In the leak were details about a so-called Salty Springs Solo Cup, Tomato Temple Duo Cup, and a Fortnite Friday Night Squads Cup. Turns out the leak was almost completely correct, as Epic has announced in-game Fortnite tournaments today.

Coming with update v6.10 tomorrow, a new tab will be added to the Fortnite battle royale lobby. Called “Events”, you’ll be able to find tournaments there. They’re open to absolutely everyone, although you must opt-in for crossplay in order to participate. Five tournaments have been announced to begin with:

• Alpha Tournament (Solo)
• Dates: October 16 - October 21
• Description: Participate in the first in-game tournament, spanning across several days of daily competition!
• Beta Tournament (Duo)
• Dates: October 23 - October 25
• Description: Grab a friend and take on the world - until you are the last two left.
• Friday Night Fortnite (Squad)
• Dates: October 19 - November 30
• Description: Join your friends every Friday and kick off your weekend with some exciting Squad action.
• Salty Springs Cup (Solo)
• Dates: October 27 - October 31
• Description: One week and three attempts to prove you're the saltiest that Salty Springs has to offer.
• Tomato Temple Cup (Duo)
• Dates: October 28 - November 1
• Description: Become legends of the Tomato Temple Cup.

They’re organised by region: NA, EU, BR, ASIA and OCE. NAE and NAW are combined together, but when you connect to a game, you’ll still be on your correct region except in “low population circumstances.”

How do the tournaments work? Within each tournament is a schedule. A series of dates and times during which each competition will run. Each of these sessions is a “completely clean slate - all players will begin with the same score and compete over several hours of intense competition to earn as many points as possible.” Both kills and placements are rewarded, rather than just one or the other.

Skill based matchmaking is also being implemented for these tournaments. The better you perform, the stronger opponents you’re matched with. Struggling? You’ll find your opponents get easier as time goes on. There’s also a target to aim for, which rewards you with a “shiny pin celebrating your accomplishment.” According to Epic, earning a pin “may advance you to the next round of a tournament or qualify you to win prizes” in future.

They’ve also announced that all players will compete together, regardless of peripheral input. Whether you’re on a mouse, controller or mobile device, you’ll be matched up against anyone. “We’ve been observing the performance of controller players in our Summer Skirmish, PAX West, and Fall Skirmish tournaments while playing against mouse and keyboard players at the highest levels of competition. Competitors such as NickMercs, Ayden, KamoLRF, and AmarCoD have shown that controller players can be successful while competing against some of the best PC players in the world.”

At the end of the announcement, Epic shed some more details on the 2019 Fortnite World Cup. “Beginning later this year, all eligible players will have the opportunity to qualify for the 2019 Fortnite World Cup directly through a ‘Showdown Royale’ event hosted using the in-game tournament system.” You can find Epic's full blog post about the in-game tournament system here.

In other Fortnite news, Tfue and Elon Musk had a brief Twitter conversation about bringing Fortnite to Tesla. Also, footage of the much anticipated gifting system has been leaked. Check that out here.

Header image courtesy of Epic.