Skip to main content

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

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.

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.

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

— FlanZ (@ItsFlanzy) 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.

Editors' Recommendations

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…
Rock Band 4 gets its final piece of DLC next week after over 8 years of support
Key art for Rock Band 4

Harmonix revealed that the January 25 DLC tracks for Rock Band 4 will be the final new ones added to the game.

This ends a streak of more than eight years of weekly DLC for the rhythm game. Ever since Rock Band 4 was released in October 2015, new DLC songs have been made available for purchase every week, giving the game one of the most impressive live service tails in the industry. Ultimately, Harmonix says it will have released nearly 3,000 songs as DLC for Rock Band 4 after the final content drop next week, and that live service support for seasons and online play will "continue as normal" after next week.

Read more
Is Fortnite down right now? Login, queue and matchmaking issues
Nanner Ringer emote in Fortnite

Having trouble booting up Fortnite right now? You aren't alone.

Fortnite is having a major outage right now with no known cause. On Thursday afternoon, players started reporting that they were unable to login. Sometimes players will be placed into a large queue and given an estimated wait time, but everyone seeing this screen is reporting that the queue resets once they reach the top.

Read more
Fortnite’s new modes are fun, but don’t sleep on Battle Royale’s great update
Solid Snake aiming a pistol out of a box in Fortnite.

Fortnite is literally the gift that keeps on giving. With so many updates bringing big changes to the game, I don't blame anyone that can no longer keep up with the live-service juggernaut. How could you after Epic recently added a full Rocket League spinoff, a recreation of Rock Band, and a Minecraft-like Lego adventure to the mix? For me, though, those can't completely overshadow the classic Battle Royale playlist that made Fortnite such a hit in the first place -- especially since that mode got some great updates of its own in its latest chapter.

Fortnite Battle Royale Chapter 5 Launch Trailer

Read more