Epic announce autumn esports programme for Fortnite: Battle Royale
I still think Fall Fracas was a better name
Epic Games are continuing their push to make Fortnite: Battle Royale into the hottest esport around, following up their eight-week, $8 million prize pool Summer Skirmish with a new six-week series taking place this autumn. Despite being shorter, it’ll squeeze in $10 million in prizes, and a new format will see players face off in challenges that aren’t just the standard murder-everyone-on-the-island arrangement.
They’re calling it the Fall Skirmish, even though I specifically suggested some better alliterative terms for them to use, and just like the summer event ended at PAX West, this one will have its grand finale at Twitchcon, which runs from October 26th to 28th. And again, like at PAX, Twitchcon attendees will be able to register to play against the pros, so everyone can once again cross their fingers for a glorious underdog story.
According to Epic’s official announcement, players will be able to gain points towards victory in both “competitive” and “entertainment” formats. The latter will be a new challenge each week, “like white-knuckle ATK races, masterful golf outings, [and] mini-games.”
This is all part of the experiment as Epic trial various ways to make Fortnite work as a spectator sport before the “large-scale events” that they have planned for next year. Including these quirky alternate modes appears to be something that they want to do moving forwards, which seems smart considering battle royales don’t always lend themselves to easy viewing. At the very least, it’ll inject some variety and test the players’ abilities in new ways.
They also teased the Showdown Royale, coming in October, which will allow all players to compete and win prizes using an in-game tournament system. The format for this and the full rules and set-up for next week’s Fall Skirmish opening weekend are as yet unannounced.
Still trying to get to grips with Fortnite? Check out our Fortnite guide hub for more tips and tricks for the game. You can also find the latest challenges in our Fortnite week 6 challenges guide.