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Fornite’s World Cup tourney is skipping this year because of the coronavirus

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Epic Games’ Fortnite World Cup will return in 2021, provided that large-scale physical events are viable this time next year. Months passed this year without much word from Epic on its e-sports plans for 2020, which was expected to include the second Fortnite World Cup this summer.

This year’s World Cup tournament was canceled because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which continues to affect the entire gaming industry.

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Physical events are still considered unsafe, which is unlikely to change in the coming months. While the Fortnite World Cup could have shifted to an online format like many of its e-sports counterparts, Epic said the “limitations of cross-region online competition“ prevent this from happening on its Fortnite Competitive Twitter account.

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This news rather unfortunate for the community since the original event in 2019 was record-breaking, offering players a chance to earn a portion of the more than $30 million in prize money, with the solo champion Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf earning $3 million and becoming one of the best battle royale players in the world.

Still, there will be many other Fortnite competitions, all held remotely. The Fortnite Champion Series will happen every season this year, including for the upcoming season 3, providing a space for the best pro players in the world to compete on a weekly basis.

For amateur players, cash cups will happen on a regular schedule. Anyone around the world who has two-factor authentication activated on their account can earn points toward monetary prizes in these online, open regional tournaments.

Epic Games is also helping third-parties host their own private tournaments whenever and wherever in Fortnite. The only stipulation being that they must be held online until further notice.

We heard the feedback?
DAMN OLD FORTNITE IS COMING BACK#ThankYouEpicGames
Also broadcasts will return on Saturday which is extremely good i love them so much!!! pic.twitter.com/R3wMGZDP37

— FlanzHQ (@FlanzHQ) April 30, 2020

Many of the official events this year will have broadcasts on the Fortnite Twitch and YouTube channels, beginning with the Fortnite Champion Series Invitational on Saturday, May 2, at 1 p.m. ET. Live-streamed events and a transparent plan are what the community has wanted for some time now, and fans quickly showed their gratitude by making “#ThankYouEpicGames” trend on Twitter.

With more than 3,000 tweets and counting at the time of publication, fans are showing their immense appreciation for the Fortnite developer clearly communicating its plans for this year’s events, even if the World Cup won’t be one of them.

Cody Perez
Cody Perez
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Cody is that stereotypical nerdy otaku guy. He loves everything Japanese from niche visual novels like 999 and Kara no Shoujo…
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