Epic Games has laid out tentative plans for competitive Fortnite in 2022.
Competitive Fortnite thrived in 2021 with a slew of multi-million-dollar Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS) competitions. The COVID-19 pandemic guaranteed that no events, including a second Fortnite World Cup, would occur offline until the future became more evident. As a result, Fortnite’s seven worldwide server regions had almost an entire year of tournaments under the trios format to establish its best players.
With Fortnite turning the page to Chapter 3 next month, this weekend’s FNCS Grand Royale will be the last competition of Chapter 2. Epic Games held the first-ever Hype Hour preceding the event, where the broadcast walked back through the year and provided information for what fans and players can expect in 2022.
Today, ESTNN breaks down everything we learned about competitive Fortnite’s future.
Third-Party Events Under Review
Fans and players hoped that Epic would announce Fortnite World Cup 2022 during the Hype Hour Show. Unfortunately, that did not come to fruition. Instead, Epic revealed that third-party offline tournaments are now accepting proposals for in-person competitions. Considering DreamHack will host a Fortnite LAN next month, it seems likely that more offline Fortnite events will occur next year, pending public health care guidelines and restrictions.
However, Epic did not announce the next Fortnite World Cup, as most were expecting.
Competitive Format Switches from Trios to Duos
Epic Games announced a switch to Duos after an entire year of Trio Fortnite Champion Series tournaments. The next FNCS will occur in February, so players have a two-month break in between major competitions. Epic also revealed a format and qualification change for future FNCS tournaments.
Here is a comprehensive breakdown of the standard format and structure moving forward:
Qualifiers
- Epic Games will stick with two weekly FNCS Qualifiers
- Teams can still earn direct passage through to the Season Finals
- Series Points will still determine qualification to Semi-Finals
- Weekly Qualifiers narrowed from four rounds to three
- Both Qualifiers will occur in the same week
Semi-Finals
- Semi-Finals consist of one single-lobby Heat
- The Semi-Finals matches will occur on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Week Two
- The winning duo of each Semi-Final match advances to the Season Finals and will be removed from the Semi-Finals player pool
- Duos that do not earn a Victory Royale will advance based on “new tournament technology” that rewards consistency at the end of each daily Semi-Final session
- Each Semi-Finals session following day one will be backfilled with teams next-in-line on the Series Points leaderboard
- The process repeats until all 50 Season Finals seats have been filled
New Match Point Format
This new addition to the Fortnite Champion Series is worth covering on its own. Epic Games has created a “Match Point” system, where, if a team reaches the designated points threshold and earns two Victory Royales, they would immediately receive the FNCS Championship. The tournament will continue as usual if a team does not accomplish those two feats.
Epic explained their reasoning for this critical change:
“Our main goal with implementing this new technology is to continue down the path where Victory Royales deliver a huge impact for any given match, while balancing single match wins carefully with consistent tournament placement and eliminations. We plan to make the points threshold significant enough so that the likelihood of the Finals ending early on Day 1 is low. We want closing out an FNCS tournament early to be an uncommon and exciting occurrence, with major clout rights.”
In essence, a team that is truly far and away the best would earn the early FNCS victory through the Match Point format. However, the goal is to make this the least likely of outcomes.
Cash Cup Format Change
Fortnite’s weekly Cash Cup tournaments exist as high-level practice for each region. These competitions are open only to players ranked in the Champion League and offer intense end games and a minor weekly prize pool. In 2022, the format will see a much-needed adjustment.
Epic Games has chosen to make Cash Cups two rounds instead of only one, with each round occurring on two different days. Their reasoning for this change is to “improve the quality and integrity of these tournaments while cash prizes are on the line.” It’s a welcomed adjustment that would ideally make games more competitive.
Weekly tournaments will also extend to Contender and Open League players, where those on the same level can compete against one another in simultaneously run Cash Cup competitions.
Consensus
It seems more and more likely that Epic Games will host another Fortnite World Cup—perhaps even in 2022. We’ll have to wait and see what happens over the next few months in that regard. Most of the community welcomes the format change to Duos. While Trios in 2021 was a delight, it will be refreshing to see what combination of players we will see in 2022. Competitive Fortnite is trending in the right direction, and next year will be pivotal for its future.
Get ready for more competitions for all skill levels and types of masteries in Fortnite. pic.twitter.com/niaBlq3bMb
— Fortnite Competitive (@FNCompetitive) November 19, 2021
Featured Image: Epic Games
Source: Epic Games
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