Friday Fortnite returns in June

KEEMSTAR and FaZe’s Friday Fortnite tournament is making a return to the competitive scene. The tournament is hosted by KEEMSTAR and organised by FaZe. Despite being dormant for a while now, FaZe are using the recent controversy as a reason to bring the event back. It’s a competitive Fortnite event with a few differences from Epic’s current competitive season. Featuring more content creators than professional competitive players and without the same emphasise on controlled gameplay.

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In 2018, Friday Fortnite was a major and frequent event which propelled many of its competitors to important spots in the Fortnite competitive community. This year’s tournament will take place in quite a different atmosphere. In the intervening period, Epic has become much more involved and committed to Fortnite Esports. This necessitates them setting some rules and guidelines for these types of events. These guidelines should help avoid the problems of non-Epic organised tournaments of the past.

Previously, Friday Fortnite carried a higher prize pool and a lot of viewers. It has always been geared more towards popular figures rather than the most skilled. Streamers and other content creators will take up slots rather than the most skilled players in the game. This kind of competition makes it a different experience to watch. Instead of watching for the most skilled players, you’re often treated to more straight up entertainment. FaZe’s most well-known players, Tfue and Cloak, will not be taking part given the current circumstances.

Friday Fortnite’s Rules and Bracket

Epic have started to cap community organised tournaments at a prize pool of $20,000. This is considerably lower than what they offer in their own tournaments, but it is a different type of spectacle. The rules are also considerably different to those in play for Epic’s official tournaments.

These three weeks of Friday Fortnite will each give away $20,000, totalling $60,000 in all. This is the exact sum of money FaZe say they claimed from player Tfue, which they have offered to return. Since Tfue has turned down that offer, they are using the money to run Fortnite Friday. This is likely just an attempt to rebuild the public image of the team. Re-using the money will calm some people’s response to the allegations, but it overlooks the much more serious allegations of mistreatment of players outside of their finical commitments.

Entrants are arranged as duos into a bracket. Each pair of players is dropped into two random games. Whichever of the two duos have the most combined kills after both of their games move onto the next round. These rules put players at the mercy of the wider Fortnite game a lot more than rules that Epic use. However, with Friday Fortnite you’re more watching for the fun of it than a hyper-controlled setting for skilled players.

The event will take place on the first Friday of June. The first few games in a bracket all take place simultaneously, so the action is fast and occasionally hard to follow. It will be live streamed through the UMG Twitch channel, or the channel of each individual player competing.