Get ready to rumble, as Fortnite: Battle Royale’s first tournament is just around the corner.
Fortnite developer Epic Games’s Warmup tournament will feature a US$500,000 prize pool and will serve as a practice tournament for players aspiring to make it to the World Cup itself.
The Fortnite World Cup Warmup will run from April 6 to 7. Any eligible Duo team made of players who have reached Division 6 in Contender’s League in Fortnite Arena Mode will be able to hop in during the three-hour event window for the World Cup Warmup Semi-finals on April 6. The top 1,500 Duos from each region will then advance to the Finals on the next day.
The tournament’s US$500,000 prize pool will have a much broader prize distribution compared to previous tournaments, likely to encourage participation from more World Cup aspirants.
The fact that a “practice” tournament will have a half a million dollar prize pool — significantly larger than most other tournaments for more established esports titles — speaks to just how much money Epic is willing to give away in order to have Fortnite recognized as an esport. Whether that will be enough to warrant a place for the game alongside the likes of League of Legends, Dota 2, or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive remains to be seen.
The Fortnite World Cup itself will have a massive US$30 million prize pool and will run from April to July, with the finals to be held from July 26 to 28 in New York City.
Alongside the announcement of the Fortnite World Cup Warmup, Epic also introduced changes to Competitive Fortnite. These include improvements to Arena Mode, FPS fixes, and locking the game’s display resolution to a 16:9 aspect ratio for competitive modes — a change that was met with disapproval by many in the competitive Fortnite community.
